12 Days Of Building Trust
by Roses Dreams and Chocolate
Summary: A private world, an atmosphere, that was created all those months ago. No one is allowed to step into it, except those two. She fears it, yet wants it to stay. When Christmas and all of its days begins, she is forced to see things like they really are.
1. Christmas Eve

**12 Days Of Building Trust.**

**Of course I don't own anything that has to do with Skip Beat. Merry Christmas and Enjoy!**

~*~_**Christmas Eve**_

It had been an extraordinary evening. To think that such a small idea that a sixteen year old girl came up with to make a seven year old child happy had become such a big mind blowing event.

At least for the outside world.

Everyone that knew Takarada Lory wasn't really that surprised when he suddenly decided to blow the whole thing up, especially considering that his precious little granddaughter was involved.

Aside from the fantastic musicians and artists that had performed, the wonderful decorations – very much fairy themed like the year before (just more winter like) with amazing food and desserts – Mogami Kyoko had indeed had a very extraordinary evening.

She'd been literally dragged out from the kitchen by force earlier that night by four very persistent girls, who were all very keen on getting her out of those chef clothes.

This caused quite a scene.

However, the strong-willed females reappeared about fifteen minutes later, their mission complete when a pretty, though very stiff, girl followed them out of the secluded room.

"Are you sure this will be okay?" Kyoko asked uncertainly as she looked down on her dress, afraid it would break if she as much as moved. "This won't cause any problems? Are you absolutely positive?"

"Yes."

"No one will need me in the kitchen?" She looked highly unconvinced. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes!" The others replied with more force. Kyoko just gave her kidnappers a doubting look.

"… I'm just going to check on them to be sure." She sprinted for the kitchen (which looked hysterical considering she tried to ruin the dress as little as possible) but someone took a strong hold on her arm, making her stop midstride.

She turned her head to face the offending person and pouted, but was instead met by the horrifying glare only her best friend was capable to conjure up.

"You're not going anywhere! You are NOT leaving me like you did last year AND destroying all our hard work at the same time." Kanae said angrily. Though all the work she'd done was to make sure Kyoko stayed in the room. "We've already told you it's all taken care of. They're professionals; they _know_ what they're doing. It's their _job_."

Maria stepped up and grabbed Kyoko's free hand, the only difference was that her grip didn't hurt. "Yeah, Nee-chan, please calm down. You didn't get to dress up last year on my birthday, and worse, on _your_ birthday. I'm not letting you do that again!"

"But…"

"No buts, I'm not letting you spoil this." Jelly stated firmly, making Kyoko's eyes become glassy with moisture as frustration mixed with carefully hidden joy filled her from within. "And no tears. That'll destroy the makeup." The Witch added, causing the tears to stop dead.

No one would ever know how that was physically possible.

"Besides," Chiori added happily. "You look really pretty, Kyoko-chan."

This on the other hand made the auburn-haired girl smile. At least that was true; she did feel pretty looking like this.

No matter how inconvenient it would be for the moment, it was always so much fun to work with Jelly. She always knew how to make the best of the little, according to Kyoko, she had to offer.

After a few more moments of tense silence, Kyoko finally put up both hands in the air as she let out a sigh in defeat.

"Okay, okay. I surrender."

"Finally." Kanae complained, secretively pleased with her compliance.

Jelly on the other hand wasn't as convinced, since she'd seen this girl in action before. "Swear you won't go to the kitchen anymore tonight?"

"I won't." Kyoko muttered.

"Or anywhere else?" Jelly added.

"… Or anywhere else…" She agreed reluctantly which gained her a glare from the others. "I promise." She hastily added, not happy about being busted.

"Yes, you promise." It was definitely a threat.

After all this and spending some time being scared to death about wearing an expensive dress and living with a bad conscience for not working, Kyoko could finally start to enjoy the evening. Unlike last year, she really got to talk and socialize with the people she had invited, which included mostly the people from the former year's party, along with a few new ones.

The Dark Moon crew was there for the second – and most likely the last – time. The Darumaya couple was of course invited, along with Box-R, Bridge Rock and some people from the movie she was currently working on named _Wake Me Up_.

Unlike all of her other characters when she always had to take some time before she could find her character, she had slipped into this one without any problem.

This did however sadden her a little, because the reason for her success wasn't exactly the most joyous inspiration. She would have had a much cleaner conscience if she'd gone the hard way.

"Kyoko! You look so beautiful!" Kara burst out as soon as she approached the girl. She was a middle-aged woman who starred as the foster mother of Kyoko's character.

"Gosh, I wish I could look this way…" Aiko, Kyoko's new friend from the set, sighed in envy. She played the role of a foster child in the same home as Kyoko.

"Stop saying that. You look gorgeous!" Kyoko insisted, embarrassed, although what she said was true.

Aiko was tall with very short, dark brown hair that was stylishly spiked. Her eyes were chocolate brown and her body was built like a model's.

Kyoko was surprised she hadn't got the lead role instead, considering that she wasn't only drop dead gorgeous, but also a very good actress.

"Yes, I know I am." Though modesty was a characteristic she lacked. "But I can never look that cute."

"Yes, your looks really are something special; in a good way of course." Kara piped in. "I bet there are a lot of boys running after you."

Before Kyoko even got the chance to react, a sly grin appeared on Aiko's face and she started to look around in the crowded room, searching for something.

"Speaking of boys, hasn't Mareo-kun showed up yet? Isn't he coming?" A disappointed pout crossed the pretty girl's face.

"Oh, um, I think he will come. At least that's what he told me." Kyoko answered with a small smile.

"Oh, he'll show up alright." Kanae suddenly muttered from behind, with a snort that made the others look at her oddly. "What? I didn't say anything." She defended herself and turned around to continue her conversation with an equally confused Chiori.

The evening continued like this. Kyoko was dazzled by all the beautiful ice-fairies and fake, glittering snow, while people, suspiciously mostly men, talked and chatted with her.

But the best part about everything was to see how happy Maria was with everything. Her father had made it this year as well, and he showed-up early this year so he could spend the entire night with his daughter, since there was no need for a big surprise this time.

Yet there was still something that was missing. _Someone _that was missing. It was already 11:30pm and he hadn't showed up yet.

Couldn't he make it this year? It felt like her heart sank in her chest, Kyoko had really wanted him to be there for Maria, since she would be so disappointed if he didn't come.

_Besides_, she added to herself with a small smile, _I have to admit I'd like to see him as well. _A faint blush spread across her face, which only increased the stares from the male population of the room.

"What're you standing there being all red for?" Kanae asked a bit bitterly, startling the dazed girl. Kanae didn't have to guess, she had a pretty good hunch.

"Oh, no nothing special." She grinned broadly, happy to see her friend, at the same time as she tried to cover her slip-up. The friend in question just responded by snorting for the second time this evening. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Kanae rolled her eyes and ignored the question.

"Don't worry, he'll show up." The man already annoyed Kanae to death, and the fact that the redness grew deeper on her friend's face by her statement didn't exactly lighten up her mood.

Kyoko sighed, knowing she'd been busted, since there was no point in trying to lie.

"Yes… I know he said he would come, it's just that he works so much I'm starting to wonder if this would be too stressful for him."

"So you actually do admit that you want to see him?"

"Um, well… Yes, I mean, I'll feel really bad for Maria if he doesn't show up on her birthday." She replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then she said what really answered Kanae's question. "And he's my friend; of course I'd like to see him."

If there was anything that Kanae hated more than _anything_on this world, then it was that step from "kohai and teacher" to "friends". Why did they have to become official friends? This meant Kyoko was one step closer to the thing Kanae feared the most.

_He is not allowed to- _

"You'd like to see _who_, Mogami-san?" A dark, velvet voice interrupted any kind of train of thought Kanae might have had, causing both girls to swirl around and face the most heart melting smile they had ever seen.

Girls all around them swooned, Kanae was blind and disgusted and Kyoko was just simply blind.

Annoyed, Kanae turned to Kyoko with an angry face and whispered _"Told you so!"_and left before the other girl could object. She'd actually like to stay and be in the way, but she knew that if she tried to be rude it would only backfire by Kyoko asking why she did that.

She was better off with Chiori for the moment.

Baffled at being left all alone in the spotlight made her slightly uncomfortable and unsure of where she should look. Kyoko finally stalled herself and looked up to meet his gaze, a bit disorientated.

"Good evening, Tsuruga-san. I see you made it!" She tried to avoid his former question.

"Good evening, yes, the shoot was longer than I'd expected, but I had to come. I had to see Maria before her birthday's done, like you said, and of course I can't turn down a friend's invitation." But to no avail. He flashed another bright smile. Kyoko couldn't help the blush that was creeping its way up her neck. "You look really great. Did you finally decide to leave the kitchen?"

"No, she did not." A tinkling voice from somewhere beside Kyoko was heard, saving her from having to speak while she in fact couldn't. "We had to drag her out, and I really mean _drag_her out from there." Maria sighed. "But now she's promised to stay like this all night! Isn't she pretty?"

She then took a leap and Ren caught her in the air, lifting her high up before letting her sit on his arm. He gave Kyoko one last heartwarming smile before turning to Maria.

"Yes, very lovely." The golden-eyed girl turned impeccably red. "Happy birthday, Maria!" While he patiently listened to the little blonde girl, Ren nodded and answered when he should, but his thoughts were still on the blushing girl.

When he'd entered the big room, Ren had been expecting to find Kyoko somewhere wearing the chef clothes she'd used the year before. Definitely not a strap less, dark blue silk dress that hugged her torso with a knee-long skirt that flared out from the waist. He had been so dazzled for that moment he'd completely forgotten about a certain person beside him. This resulted in a dreadful snicker from his left.

Yashiro coughed to cover his amusement up and looked in another direction, as if he was looking for something.

"Can you find her?" He asked as if nothing had happened. Ren just sighed and made his way towards the girls causing Yashiro to laugh again, this time not trying to hide it.

When he'd overheard their conversation as he got closer to them, he couldn't help but to feel how his heart swelled. Even though their status had been "friends" for quite some time now, it still felt unbelievable how far they had come. Just her being comfortable enough to admit without any greater hesitation that she wanted to see him was enough to make his day anytime.

"… And dad gave me a super pretty kimono that I'm going to wear for New Years!" Maria finished counting all her gifts she'd received this year.

"That's great!" Ren smiled broadly, hoping she wouldn't ask him to recite all of her gifts. "And that reminds me of something…" He put the small girl down and reached for something in his pocket. "Here you go, happy ninth birthday."

Maria excitedly accepted the little black box with a silver ribbon and opened the lid as carefully as she possibly could manage. A small gasp escaped her lips.

Inside the expensive-looking box was a small, wonderfully detailed bracelet made of a small golden chain. Golden letters decorated with small, pink gems spelling the name Maria were hanging on individual links, looking very fragile.

"It's wonderful." Maria sighed in awe.

"Yes, definitely." Kyoko, who snapped out of her embarrassing daze as soon as "gifts" were mentioned, peeked over the shoulder of the smaller girl. A small frown made its way to Kyoko's face as she leaned closer to get a better view of the piece of jewelry.

"This reminds _me_ of…" She automatically reached for the necklace she wasn't wearing for the moment.

"What?" Maria asked.

"No… nothing, I just thought about something." Kyoko answered hesitantly after a slight pause. Ren noticed this and wasn't the least bit surprised.

He'd known it would be a pointless action, but for some reason he couldn't help but to try to give Kyoko some kind of vague hint when he had the same type of stone placed in the bracelet. He knew her sharp eye would recognize the stone, but he also knew for a fact she wouldn't put two and two together.

"I suppose it's my turn now!" Kyoko suddenly said, leaving the mystery about the similarities between the gems on the bracelet and Princess Rosa behind. "I'm so sorry I'm giving it so late, I never got the chance to give it with all the people around,"

_I noticed_. Ren bitterly thought as he glanced a bit annoyed at the people, mostly males, looking her way.

"And you looked so happy with your dad, so I couldn't possibly interrupt. So here you go!" She gave the girl a small, pink envelope.

Maria gave Kyoko a quick hug before taking the envelope, curious as to what her big sister could have come up with.

Inside was a small, handmade, pink card with a picture of a cupcake on it with carefully cut, glittery letters spelling "Time to Cook!"

Maria looked at it slightly baffled.

"It's lovely, Nee-chan, thanks…" She didn't really know how to respond. Last year she'd gotten this giant doll of Ren, and this year she gets… a card with a cupcake on it. She would never be ungrateful for whatever her older sister would give her, but this was… surprising to say the least.

Kyoko started to laugh.

"No, Maria, the card is not the real gift. Or well, it's kind of a gift card, sort of a subscription I suppose."

The girl just looked more and more confused for each second.

"You remember when you told me you wanted to learn how to cook? Well, what you're holding right there is my promise, my word," She held one hand up in the air while the other drew a cross over her heart. "That I'll come home to you –or you to me – once a week for a year and teach you how to cook something new for each time. Does that sound any good to you?"

The little girl, whose eyes had gotten bigger and bigger for each word that was uttered, threw herself at Kyoko in happiness.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so, so much!" She squealed while crushing Kyoko, which is surprising considering her small size. "This is amazing! This will be so much fun! I can't wait for this to start… uh, when will it start?"

"I've been talking to your grandfather and he agreed that this Saturday around 6pm would be alright. Is that okay with you?"

Maria's eyes shone with joy. "It's perfect!"

While the girls chatted, Ren couldn't help but feel a small pang of jealousy. He couldn't help to admit that that would have been the most wonderful, let alone perfect, gift he could ever receive. As if sensing his feelings, Yashiro was quick to comment.

"Wow, Kyoko-chan, that's amazing! Though I do think I know someone who'd maybe need that card slightly more…" He gave an obvious glance in Ren's direction with a wink and Kyoko had to laugh.

"To be perfectly honest with you, I have actually considered giving him something like that. But thinking about all the late nights Tsuruga-san needs to work, it would hardly be appropriate."

Ouch.

Something that looked like pity suddenly crossed the bespectacled man's face, and she didn't quite understand why.

At the same time this happened she heard a snicker coming from her side. She turned to her right to see who it was and saw her best friend looking in another direction with a cough.

However, nothing more happened that night, because suddenly the clock gave away a loud boom, informing the guests it was midnight.

**A/N: (Yes, I kind of messed up the title at first.)  
>Alright! Chapter number one is finally out! Though it's more of a prologue… a very long one at that. A huge thank you to MiracleMoon124, my awesome pseudo-little sister from the US that will edit this entire story for me! (Except the ANs. (Warning: Typos might be found here.))**

**And for those that have read my two other fics I can happily inform you that I'm currently editing **_**Reconsidering the obvious**_**, which I wouldn't have been able to do without Violet Flutterby. Plus when I reread it a while ago I realized I need to do some editing myself.  
>I would be overjoyed by comments and thoughts! And again: Merry Christmas!<strong>


	2. First day of Christmas

**12 Days Of Building Trust.**

**No, I don't own Skip Beat! I am not that awesome.**

_However, nothing more happened that night, because suddenly the clock gave away a loud boom, informing the guests it was midnight._

**First day of Christmas.**

"Happy Birthday, Kyoko." This was certainly new. For the first time ever had Kanae hugged her on her own free will. Yes, it was a little stiff and the "Happy Birthday" wasn't that joyful, but it still managed to amaze the already startled Kyoko.

Kanae released the stunned girl, watching the huge round tears drown Kyoko's eyes.

"M-Moko-chan…" She started to sob loudly and was just about to give her friend a bone crushing hug. However, Kanae sensed this and quickly pushed a package into Kyoko's arms before she got killed.

A tiny bit startled by this she looked down at the silver package that she was currently hugging very tightly, and then up to Kanae again with the most childish look she could possibly muster.

"You're even giving me a gift!" The salty water orbs fell like a waterfall from her eyes.

"No. Or well, that's not my gift, that's Chiori's." She motioned at the other LoveMe girl was standing slightly baffled, surprised by how her gift had suddenly been ripped away from her hands. "I just automatically used it as a shield."

Kyoko's eyes widened even more. "Oh, Chiori-chan, you shouldn't have…" Her heart swelled with warmth.

"Of course I had to! I'm only relieved I found out as soon as I did. If it wouldn't have been for Kotonami-san I would be here, embarrassed and without a gift!" She shook her head with irritation. "Really, Kyoko-chan, you've got to think about things like this."

Glassy eyed and on the verge of crying out loud, she gave Chiori a tight hug before turning to the package... that was suddenly not in her hands anymore.

"No, not yet, I have to give you my gift first!" Kanae had ripped it away from Kyoko in the same fashion as before, and pushed it into the arms of Chiori again.

Chiori couldn't help but feel realived it wasn't fragile.

"So you have a gift for me?" Kyoko gasped and started to look for a sign of a present somewhere. She frowned. "Where is it?"

"Right here." Kyoko's eyebrows went up."It's me."

"… What?"

Kanae sighed, not really convinced her gift was the most optimal. She had hoped to be original, but since Kyoko already had given something similar to Maria she just hoped it wouldn't just sound like a rip off instead of something thought through.

"I'm going to give you ten, free, full days with me. _Alone_." She shot an angry look at someone particular on their side as she stressed the particular word. "Where we go shopping, or whatever it is you want to do, and… this is where I really have to sacrifice myself, eat whatever fattening food or snacks you want us to. I'll pay."

Kyoko gasped.

"But I can't promise I won't complain!" Kanae added quickly just to keep some kind of pride to herself.

"Really? You would do that for me…?" She half whispered. Kanae nodded with restraint and Kyoko put both hands to her mouth to muffle a squeal and threw her arms around her friend's neck.

"Oh, thank you Moko-san! Thank you, so, so much! It's so wonderful, the best gift ever! You can complain as much as you want to!"

To most people this would be a weird and kind of cheap gift, considering that shopping and eating innutritious foods with friends was just a normal as breathing.

But not to Kyoko, this was her ultimate dream; being able to do whatever she wanted with Kanae, knowing that the dark haired girl would probably have rejected it any other time.

Kanae had no idea what she was getting herself into.

Before Kyoko got to release Kanae, the raven-haired girl shot an evil grin, very similar to the one the former year, towards the tall brunet beside them. She didn't even have to say anything since the look was telling him everything he needed to know: "Not only did I win this year as well, I was first!"

Ren had to give it to her; she was good. Before he even got the chance to react at the midnight stroke, Kanae had already thrown herself at his love with full speed, shocking the rest of the group.

He was still a firm believer of what he said last year; it doesn't matter what a person gives or how many people it is who gives you anything, since you'll be happy anyway. Fortunately, Ren couldn't help but to feel competitive.

In other words; he wasn't quite ready to give up just yet.

After having let go of Kanae, Kyoko turned to the gift from Chiori, which was for once mildly given.

The girl in question felt embarrassed and unsure whether her gift would be good enough after seeing the reaction that Kanae managed to get.

But of course it was ridiculous to feel worried when it came to Kyoko, because the look of pure happiness showed on Kyoko's face as she opened the gift to reveal a jewelry-making kit, making Chiori to sigh in relief.

Her motivation for the gift being the time Kyoko's handmade necklace, Princess Rosa, fell off. She wanted to give her something that would make her crafts last longer.

Of course this made Kyoko more than overjoyed and she gave the girl a second hug.

Next up was Maria. She gave her big sister a black oak wand with thin, squiggly silver lines engraved into it. She said that it was a wand, that if used correctly, you could give someone either bad or good luck.

"If you want to give someone good luck you have to think the person's name thrice while your eyes are closed. When you open them again you draw a circle clockwise in the air in the direction the person is and spell 'good luck' with the wand in the middle of the circle."

Kyoko nodded excitedly, closed her eyes, drew a circle in front of Maria and ended it with spelling 'good luck' in the middle.

"Like that?" Kyoko asked, smiling widely.

"Yes, exactly! Thank you Nee-chan!" She gave her a quick hug before continuing. "When you want to curse someone with bad luck you do the exact same thing, except you draw the circle counter clockwise and write bad luck in the circle instead."

Kyoko automatically started to look around with a mischievous look on her face. _I wonder where they are… _Thinking about cursing Fuwa and the Beagle gave her some morbid amusement, but since she didn't know where they were, so she couldn't do it properly. She would probably end up cursing some poor person that happened to share the same name._ What a shame_.

Then it was the Darumaya couple's turn. They came forth and gave her a new purse that she accepted gratefully and promised she would treasure and use it as often as she possibly could.

Unlike last year when almost no one knew about her birthday, she received plenty of gifts from many different people. She got a makeup kit from Jelly, who now had finally decided to show up after she'd gone missing right after transforming Kyoko, and some gifts from Ogata and the actors.

Kijima was one of them.

He gave her a figurine of a small fairy and told her he just _happened_ to pass by it and thought it looked just like her, so he just had to buy it. Of course this only increased the stars in the girl's already star struck eyes.

This, on the other hand, made Ren slightly twitch, amusing Yashiro and Kanae quite a bit. Adding the fact that the trio from Bridge Rock gave her an expensive-looking necklace didn't exactly help his already bad mood.

However, there was no time for him to intervene before Lory showed up, declaring it was time for a tradition that started just last year. He pointed at a huge cake that was for the moment rolling towards them with a banner saying 'Happy Birthday Kyoko!'

It was shaped like a winter wonderland, unlike last year's princess castle. It had a snowy mountain, a miniature forest, a beautiful icy lake with a small carriage pulled by a horse on it with loads of ribbons, and finally with white roses and fairies decorated all over the cake.

Just like last year, a large choir, together with the rest of the guests, started to sing the birthday song.

Kyoko had secretly hoped for something like this to happen again, but it still felt mind blowing. She could never get used to such friendliness from all these people, they were all too kind! Though this reminded her of something else…

When everyone had calmed down and taken a slice from the beautiful cake, Kyoko started to wonder where the first person to congratulate her last year had gone to. She felt a slight sting in her heart at the thought of him leaving before even giving her a short congratulation, no matter how selfish she felt about it.

"Really, Kyoko-chan, you should tell us when your birthday is! Now I feel so embarrassed for not bringing anything!" Aiko angrily complained, making Kyoko laugh apologetically.

"I'm sorry; it's just that that it's never been much of a big deal before so I haven't really given it much thought."

"Well, you'd better start now." Aiko demanded, shaking her head in disapproval.

Then she suddenly looked over Kyoko's shoulder, as if she was unsure whether she was right or…

A sly grin appeared on her face, very similar to the one a few hours ago, making a shiver of dread go down Kyoko's spine.

"Don't look now, but it seems like… am I seeing things? No, I'm sure of it! Mareo is looking for someone, and it's not me." She put her hand dramatically to her cheek with her mouth hanging open. "Oh, dear, he's found her! It seems like he wants to talk to her."

Kyoko spun around automatically, eyes wide.

Sure enough; No other than the male lead and coworker of _Wake Me Up_ was looking straight at her, with a look that said that there was something on his mind. When he noticed she'd discovered him, he smiled… shyly? Slowly, he started to walk towards the girls.

"Well, see ya' later, Kyoko-chan!" The dark brown-haired actress clapped Kyoko on her shoulder, leaving the baffled girl all alone in confusion. Kyoko watched as Aiko skipped away happily, practically singing, leaving no chance for the auburn girl to stop her.

"Was Ito-san in a hurry or something?" Ren chuckled as soon as he reached Kyoko, who was now swirled around to greet her sempai and friend, remembering just why she couldn't run after her fellow actress.

"I'm… not sure." Kyoko answered confusingly. "She just suddenly ran off."

"I see…" Not that he minded. "Anyway, I've wanted to talk to you since midnight, but you seemed so busy talking to everyone else, I never seemed to get the chance."

Kyoko, having a pretty good hunch on what was coming next, couldn't help but to feel rather excited, something that almost always happened when he was about to reveal something.

No, that was a lie. It _always_ happened.

She'd been very aware that this was a threat for a long time, but she'd stopped trying to fight it. She'd tried to stay away once, but it didn't help, her consciousness only nagged in the back of her mind.

_Besides, _she thought to herself. _There's one other thing that makes it important for me to stay around._

"Here," He gave her a small, dark blue package with silver strings."Happy Birthday."

"Oh, thank you so much, Tsuruga-san…" She accepted the small gift, feeling how silly and annoying tears threatened to reappear, and started to carefully remove the paper.

It was a small, round, white porcelain box with shades of light blue. On it was beautifully painted lines, flowers and feathers in different shades of blue and white. The edge of the lid and the bottom of the box together with the four small feet was painted in silver.

On the top of the lid was a small, white figurine of a swan with its wings spread apart as if it was about to fly. It was so detailed it looked almost real with eyes made of two, dark blue gems.

You could also find these gems carefully placed on the sides of the silver painted lines.

Kyoko couldn't do anything but to stare at this frail artwork. It was so…

"Beautiful…" She whispered in indescribable wonder.

"You do know there is more to it..." Ren said with an almost equally quiet voice, too mesmerized with her expression to be fully aware of what he did.

"What do you mean?" She asked, surprised since she couldn't understand how such a wonderful thing could be even more perfect.

Yet she was proven wrong. It could.

Ren gently took the little porcelain item from her hands and showed her a small, black screw on the back of it. He turned it a few times before letting it go and opened the lid.

A small ballet dancer appeared, swirling slowly in the center as the theme melody from Swan Lake played.

"It's a music box."

Kyoko thought she was going to faint. Without a word, she carefully took the precious beauty in her hands again and stared at it with such wonder, her mouth slightly open as if to say something, but nothing left her lips.

Tears made their way down from her eyes as she watched the little Odette dance.

Suddenly, a gentle hand wiped them carefully away from her face, slightly startling her. When did the comfortable distance between them disappear?

"Should I take that as a thank you?" He asked quietly with the warmest of smiles.

She looked at him a few moments before simply nodding and letting loose a smile, very much mirroring his.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a clue as to how she was supposed to thank him properly.

She settled for something simple since words weren't quite enough anyway. "Yes. Thank you so, so much…"

The melody came to a stop, and with it the quiet, private world they had at some point stepped into. Everything that had gone missing a few minutes ago; the sound of people talking and laughing all around them seemed to slowly come back.

This was their wake up call.

Ren leaned back, remembering that they were in a room full with people, a room where somewhere, a fan-girl manager, mental president and an unbelievably scary girl would be lurking.

He coughed, trying to come up with something else to say before he did something stupid.

That's when he noticed.

"Oh, I see you're wearing Princess Rosa now. When did you put her on?"

She blinked, still a bit in a daze, but quickly recovered to her usual self.

"Oh, you noticed?" she touched the little stone with her fingers while still carefully cradling the music box with one of her hands. "I had planned on putting her on by midnight, but I never had the chance to since so many people came forth to talk to me. So right after the Winter Wonderland was presented I put her on. It is after all exactly one year since I got the rose she was born from." She looked up at him with a bright smile.

"Thank you."

"For what?" He chuckled.

"For bringing her to me."

Oh, how he had to fight himself at moments like these.

However, she brought him out of his self-quarrel when she suddenly seemed to have come to think about something important. She told him to stay there and wait.

Before he even could conjure up a proper sentence she had run off, but was soon back again, holding the wand she'd got from Maria.

"What…?"

She put a finger to her secretively smiling lips, silencing him.

She placed herself in front of him, closed her eyes, opened them again, drew a circle clockwise and wrote 'good luck' in the center of it.

"There." She said. "That's all I can do to repay you for the moment. I hope it helps."

_'That's all I can do to repay you for the moment.' _He liked that.

"Thank you, I'm sure it will." He reassured and chuckled, his smile never faltering even once.

"So," They both flinched. "You're going to give _him_ good luck, but you're not even considering giving your _best_friend anything, huh?" A murderous aura was coming from the side, giving everyone around them the shivers. They turned to look at the source and found a very mad-looking Kanae glaring at Kyoko. "Maybe I should just leave then, seeing I'm not as important." She turned around and started to walk away.

Kyoko moved in a millisecond to catch her friend before she could go too far. "Oh, no Moko-san! I was planning on giving you good luck as well. In fact, I'm going to do that every day!"

"You'd better!" She sneered and freed her arms so she could cross them with a huff. "Come on then. Hurry up."

Kyoko hurriedly started the small ritual again, and as soon as the two girls started their usual cry-and-yell conversation, Ren heard the most haunting and nightmarish sound he knew.

The familiar evil, witchlike laugh could never be mistaken.

"I saw that." Yashiro sang with glee. _Of course he did. _"I couldn't hear what was being said, but judging from how you gradually gravitated against each other my guess is that it must have been pretty good."

Ren's eyebrows went up.

They had been gravitating towards each other? He was just about to open his mouth to ask something, but quickly decided otherwise. No, he was not going to even mention his surprise to his manager.

After snickering and teasing his charge for a few more moments, Yashiro enjoyed every sigh and slight discomfort showing in the actors face, he actually asked something with more sincere curiosity.

"So… what's the verdict?"

"The verdict?"

"You know what I mean. Did you win this year?"

At first Ren wanted to discard such a question, considering how irritated he was with his manager, but he couldn't help but to honestly consider it. The quiet explosion of emotions that had been put on display on her face certainly was something worth the money put on the very expensive collectible. Not that he cared about the prize.

His goal had been, and always was, to make her as happy as possible.

But still, he felt it was more different than any of the other exchanges of gifts she'd had that night, even more special than the last year's rose.

It was that private world they emerged into at times like these, when it felt like no one could interfere and there was no way out, though neither seemed to mind, let alone notice, being there.

It was a kind bond that had been created slowly and had grown stronger ever since he first blacked out in the fight as Cain all those months ago. It was as if they shared something, something made out of complete comfort.

Would the same thing happen if another person had given her the same gift? He didn't believe that was the case.

At least that's the truth he wanted. He hoped, no, _needed_ her desperately to feel the same way.

She only knew parts of his story, but it was enough for any other girl to run, but not her. She stayed no matter what he did.

There was still a small sliver of hope hanging in the air, like spider silk, incredibly thin and breakable, but still strong enough to capture great things.

"I think," He said, not even thinking about Kotonami-san and her competitiveness as he watched Kyoko run around, giving good luck to anyone she knew and liked. "That I might be on my way."

He ignored his manager's confused look and questions as he saw the love of his life turn around to look him straight in the eyes, giving him one of her most beautiful smiles. _Or maybe even closer_.

... ... ...

Kyoko quietly unlocked the door to the Darumaya with a big yawn and stepped inside the dark restaurant.

The owners of the restaurant had gone home at around one in the morning, since they were tired and needed some sleep before getting up early the next morning, while Kyoko had stayed at the party a few hours longer.

She would still be there if she'd had it her way; she wanted to help in tidying everything up, but after gaining the furious glares from the three specific females (Maria had gone to sleep around the same time as the Darumaya couple left) that had made her promise not to help, she surrendered.

So now here she was tired, but happy… and slightly confused as till why the 1.90m tall smooth talker was still with her.

"So, where should I put all of these?" Ren whispered; his arms full with different objects.

Oh, that's right. He _was_ a smooth talker.

When it finally had been time to go home, she realized she had way too many things for her to be able to carry by herself, so of course her great sempai had offered her to not only give her a ride, but to help her carry all her gifts up to her room.

His motivation for this was "Girls, especially not rising stars, should not be sitting on a bus, or worse, walking while carrying lots things she can barely handle in the middle of the night." When that didn't quite convince her, he simply added with a sad face; "I would be worried."

And now, here she was, going up the stairs followed by the number one actor of Japan… carrying different pink, sparkly and other very feminine items of different sorts. She would laugh if it wouldn't have been for the fact that this was not only incredibly embarrassing, it would be even worse if the owners woke up and noticed she wasn't alone.

Taicho specifically. He had been acting strangely… "aggressive" towards Ren the last couple of months.

When they finally reached her room she opened the door, turned the lights on and motioned for the things to be put down on the empty table she had prepared just in case something like this would happen this year again.

When the table proved to be too small for all the things to fit on it, they decided to put the rest around and under the small furniture.

As she gazed upon all the things she'd been given, she couldn't help but feel the dams threatening to burst again.

"There." Ren whispered cheerfully, placing a last, painted glass in the remaining empty spot by the table. "Wow, if it continues like this you won't be able to fit in your own room next year."

She giggled. "I doubt it."

"I don't."

He then looked a bit concerned as he studied the collection of presents. Something was clearly missing.

"Where is…?" He didn't finish the question, just turned to her with worry slightly crossing his face.

Finding his concern slightly amusing and maybe just a little sweet, Kyoko had to giggle.

"It felt so fragile I wanted to be extra sure it was kept safe." She reached for her purse and picked the delicate treasure carefully up in her hand. Instead of putting it with the rest of the things she put it up on her shelf, right next to where a big, dried rose in an overly extravagant vase was placed.

"Perfect!" She proudly clapped her hands together, regretting the action right away since it was quite loud. "I'll make sure to put Princess Rosa's bed right next to it so Odette won't feel so alone in her new home."

She turned around to thank and bid her good night to Ren, but was instead met by such an intense smile she was stunned into silence. She could never react like a normal person whenever he did that.

It wasn't fair and certainly not safe.

"I see you treat my gifts differently." He told her softly as he studied her shelf. She started to fidget just a little.

"Uh, well… of course. You always manage to give me such special gifts and…" She looked away, a small blush painting her face, cursing herself for never being able to shut up.

"And…?" He pressed.

"Well… It's you who gave them. That makes them special." She shyly avoided his eyes. She always felt awkward admitting things like that.

She didn't look at him, but she felt the smile directed at her. It was scary.

This did however not last long, because Ren suddenly looked over her shoulder and seemed to have found something very interesting to look at.

His friendly smile turned into a mocking grin.

"So, do you mind telling me how long you've had that picture of me pinned on the wall?"

Kyoko's eyes widened in shock and realization as her face turned beet red. She'd completely forgotten about it! And of course here she was, paying for her own stupidity.

"Uh, I… um…It, eh…" Was all she could manage to utter and she thanked her blessings she had thrown out the Sho-poster just a few weeks ago.

"Hm?" He started to laugh as she tried to form a decent sentence.

Silence.

"It helps me to focus, alright." She finally burst out as quiet as she possibly could manage in this situation. "Now, if you please, it's very late and you have to work tomorrow! Err…I mean toady."

She started to push on his back to make him walk out of her room. "You have been very kind and I thank you for the ride and the lovely gift."

He walked obediently down the stairs, barely containing the laughter.

"Alright, I get the hint. I'm leaving, I'm leaving." They finally stopped right in front of the door with him grinning wildly at her pouting.

"Then I guess the only thing left for me is to thank you for the wonderful evening. I've had a ball." He smiled, his laughter still visible on his face. "And thanks for letting me know one more of your secrets…"

Kyoko, whose blush finally had calmed down a little, fired up once again.

"Shush, don't mention it again, please! It's embarrassing." She gently hit his arm and he chuckled. She amazed herself at how easily they got along, though now she only wanted him out of her house.

"But yes, thank you Tsuruga-san. It's been nice. But you really need to leave now if you're going to get any kind of sleep!" Or avoid getting killed by a tired yet very skilled chef with a knife. "Really, for the thousandth time; you need to take better care of yourself; I can't be there all the time making sure you behave."

After saying this he gave her a mysterious, almost longing look which left her puzzled and just a little curious.

"What?"

He chuckled.

"No, nothing." The cryptic look didn't quite leave his eyes but he continued talking with a more casual tone. "I'll see you on Wednesday then."

"Yes, you will. Good night Tsuruga-san. And thanks once again." She sighed, feeling realived. He was finally going to leave, which meant he would be able to focus on his work much better, which also meant she could sleep with a better conscience.

Along with not getting stabbed.

Then, without a warning, he suddenly removed some hair from her face in a swift and soft motion.

"Good night to you as well. And could you please do me a favor and tell the Taicho I'm not going to steal anything?" The cryptic smile was back. "I won't take something that doesn't accept being taken."

As soon as it happened, he was gone.

She was left there, staring at the spot where the ridiculously tall actor just had been standing moments ago. When she finally snapped back to reality with an angry jolt, she locked the door and walked up the stairs while grumbling not so nice things about giants not making sense.

As soon as she entered her room she collapsed on her bed. She was so exhausted. Kyoko sighed as she looked up into the ceiling. Really, what did that even _mean_?

She looked over to where Odette was resting on her shelf, and even though she was annoyed, she couldn't help to smile in silent wonder, replaying the moment when she received the little swan princess in her mind.

That atmosphere, no, that _world_. Was she the only one who noticed it? The only one in it? She didn't know.

What she did know for sure was that it was dangerous, horrendous, warm and safe feelings that slipped into her body whenever it happened.

But there was one other thing that she'd finally realized after such a long time. Something she couldn't believe at first, and, when she did, everything became so much harder to endure and so much harder to make her stay away.

He needed her. Ever since that day, he'd proven it to her.

Why it had to be her she didn't know, or why no one else seemed to work. What she did know was that as long as she stayed there with him, everything seemed to work out in the end, because whenever he went into that dark place…

_"I've done things you can't possibly fathom. I'm scared of what I'm capable of doing…"_

She frowned as dark memories slipped into her mind.

She shook her head, trying to shake the images out of her head and turned to the right to check what time it was. Her usual alarm clock was always standing by itself beside her futon.

So why wasn't it by itself right now?

She sat straight up in surprise and looked down at the small envelope attached to a miniature, brown paper bag. Beside it was a note.

_Kyoko-chan_

_Someone came in and gave this to us right before we left to the party and told us we should leave it on your room. We were told not to tell you who it was, because this person wanted you to find out by yourself._

_- Okami._

Kyoko stared blankly at the note and then to the tiny bag. She carefully took the envelope in her hands and looked at it. On the front was the number one stamped in black ink, and she continued to study it for about a minute before slowly opening it up.

Inside was a short rhyme written with black ink.

_On the first day of Christmas, I will give you,_

_Something small and sweet that I hope will do._

She re-read the rhyme over and over again, as if she was trying to find a secret meaning within the letters. After this proved to be fruitless, she turned to the note from Okami-san and then back to the rhyme again before concentrating on the small paper bag.

_What is this?_ She asked herself, not necessarily thinking about what she might find in the tiny package.

She unrolled the opening and revealed a small piece of chocolate lying prettily by itself on the floor of the bag. She picked it up with slight suspicion.

What if it was poisoned? She could very well imagine someone doing something like that.

She looked at the note again and spoke out loud."On the other hand, if Taicho actually let someone in like this it can't possibly be dangerous."

After a few more moments of doubt and hesitation, she put the small piece in her mouth. If she wasn't already lying down, she could have collapsed from the delight, the richest taste of strawberries mixed with chocolate filling all of her senses.

_Whoever it is, _she thought while squirming happily, _certainly knows my taste in chocolate_.

**There we go. Sorry for the late and very long chapter, but I promise this is the longest! Thanks to MiracleMoon124 that edits and have to endure reading the entire thing. :) **

**Every fav and comment on my previous chapter made my day! And I promise you won't have to wait this long for the next chapter!**


	3. Second day of Christmas

**12 Days Of Building Trust.**

**Disclaimer etc. etc.**

_Whoever it is, she thought while squirming in delight. Certainly knows my taste in chocolate._

**Second day of Christmas**

"So let me see if I got everything right here." Kanae finally said after a moment of stunned silence. "You found a piece of chocolate in your room, a rhyme attached to it, but without any sign of a sender?"

Kyoko nodded.

"And you ate it." She said, not wording it into a question.

She nodded again.

"Are you out of your mind?" She suddenly shrieked, startling the other girl. "Do you know how bad that is? What if it was poisoned? Or worse, sent by some crazed fan!"

How a crazed fan could possibly be worse than a lethal trap, Kyoko would never know, but she tried to calm Kanae down before they caught too much attention. Though that was hardly possible considering the horrible jumpsuits they were wearing in the middle of a crowded hallway of LME.

"Yes, calm down," She hushed. "I'm not dead, so it's obviously not poison."

"Crazed fan it is then."

"No, it's not. Taicho would never let someone bad like that into his home." Kyoko reassured. It didn't quite convince her friend, but at least she didn't disagree.

Kanae sighed and rubbed her temples at the head ache that was threatening to invade her head.

"Let's just try to guess who this is so you can get done an over it with it." She reasoned and crossed her arms angrily. The images of crazy stalkers giving creepy gifts to her friend were more than enough to ruin her mood at any time. "What did that rhyme say? It must give us some kind of clue."

Kyoko, who had read it out loud, recited it in her head and tried to read it backwards several times, in an attempt to find some secret message, quoted in without any problems.

"On the first day of Christmas, I will give you,

Something small and sweet that I hope will do."

"Talk about cheesy." Kanae stated with a huff when she was done. "Are you sure it's not a crazy stalker?"

At the mention of crazy stalkers, Kyoko's thoughts automatically jumped to a certain purple eyed freak. Shivering at the thought, she shook her head as if trying to shake it off.

"Like I said, a guy, or a girl, like that wouldn't be let in." She had been spending her entire birthday thinking about who it might have been, but no matter how hard she thought about it, nothing seemed to click.

"Have you tried to ask the couple you're staying with?" Kanae asked, not really expecting to get any important information.

"Yes…" Kyoko grumbled, mostly to herself. Since it had been a Sunday and she had a day off, she had tried to get something out of the couple while helping them in the kitchen, but to no avail. They just continued doing whatever they were doing and changed the topic.

"There is however one thing about this rhyme that gets me thinking." It looked like Kanae tried to remember something.

"And that is?"

"The first part, the thing saying 'on the first day of Christmas', I recognize it from somewhere."

"Oh," Nothing new then. "Yes, I recognized it as well… but I couldn't quite put my finger on it."

Kanae sighed again, more irritated by the second.

"Okay then. So what do we know? Absolutely nothing?" She was not satisfied with this. "Except that it's probably not some unknown dude, which I actually have to admit is practically impossible, considering that you're supposed to be able to figure out who it is. This automatically leads to it being someone you know."

Kyoko, who had been thinking about something that had been bothering her ever since she got it, felt even more troubled at hearing the confirmation of her suspicions.

"Yes, I've actually considered this as well… It's just that…" She looked down on her feet, feeling sad and slightly worried. "If it is someone I know, this person feels obligated to give me more things until I can solve the mystery."

"What do you mean?" Kanae furrowed her brows.

"It said 'on the first day', doesn't that mean that there's a second, third and so on-day?" Kyoko gasped. She imagined she would force someone to its ruins because she would never be able to figure out who it was. "No, that can't happen, I have to figure it out! I can't let someone go bankrupt!"

The raven haired girl grabbed Kyoko's shoulders in order for her to stand still. "Geez, calm down! It said the first day of Christmas, not the first day of forever." Kyoko stopped. Oh, yes, that's true. "Could you at least try to think logically for once? If it's going to be every day of Christmas, then you'll get… how many days is it?"

"I think… twelve, right? I think that's how the song…" Suddenly, two lights seemed to glow over each LoveMe members head. Both girls were still as death while they stared at each other in mutual, shocked silence.

Fate is an unexplainable and baffling thing, though it has quite the sense of humor. The radio on the wall suddenly decided to spark to life and announce that it was time for some Christmas classics, starting with an old song from England.

'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…'

Deafening everyone within an area of 100 square meters and shocking everyone else reaching out to the outside of LME with a glass breaking scream, Kanae slapped a hand over the offending girl's mouth and dragged her inside the closest room she could find.

Being contemporarily deaf was quite convenient for the moment. It meant Kanae didn't have to listen to Kyoko's panicking outburst for a few moments. Unfortunately, this didn't last that long.

"… Must be a cruel joke! Help me, Moko-san!" Was the first thing to be heard when her hearing returned to something that had to be somewhat normal.

"Shut up!" She exclaimed, quieting the other girl. "Are you trying to kill me? Or make me permanently deaf? Seriously, calm down!"

Kyoko sniffed.

"But I'm freaked out. I don't have a true… that. What is this?" She pouted, instantly regretting she'd even opened the small envelope in the first place.

"Would you be so kind and be quiet for a minute? Hasn't it even crossed your mind that this person might not follow the song literally? We already have a proof that's not how it is."

"How so?" Her lower lip quivered slightly.

"Well, you obviously didn't get a partridge in a pear tree for the first day, right?"

"Oh, that's true…" Thank goodness for that, she didn't know what she would do if she was given a big bird, though the restaurant owners might have appreciated it. "But this still doesn't tell us anything!"

"Again, think logically." Kanae demanded; annoyed at how slow this progressed, for her it was quite obvious already. "When did the couple you're staying with come to the party?"

"Around nine."

"Who came to the party after that time?"

Kyoko thought about this for a while, trying hard to remember.

"Let me see… Momose-san didn't get there until around 9:30, same thing goes for Kijima-kun and Ogata, though it feels ridicules that those two would give me anything like this. A girl from Box-R didn't get there until it was quite late either. Except a few crew members there wasn't anyone else except…" She gasped, and that gasp told Kanae everything she needed to know.

"Then there you have it. Problem solved." Kanae muttered. She had been thinking about him all along, just not spelling it out to her directly. She was still angry about losing the Who-can-give-the-best-birthday-present-to-Kyoko-contest. She hoped they could just move on now and…

"No. That can't be." Kyoko stated curtly.

"What do you mean 'that can't be'? How could it possibly be anyone but him?"

"What do you even mean by that? He was on set all day, he told me so himself. He wouldn't have been able to squeeze such a thing in the middle of his hectic schedule." She sighed. "Besides, I don't understand why he would do such a thing for me anyway. He already gave me such a fine gift."

In her mind, Kanae imagined hitting her friend very hard in the head with a very large, blunt object. No matter how little she wanted to lose her friend to someone else, her stupidity was mind-blowing.

She took a deep breath, quenching her anger.

"You've told me yourself." She tried hard to keep her tone on a tolerant level. "You've become better friends lately, right?"

"Yes."

"And friends like to give gifts to each other."

"Yes?" She turned her answer to a question, not really liking the way this was going.

"And he probably has more money than he needs for the rest of his life, and he can spend it exactly on anything he wants to."

"Yes."

Kanae slapped her hand against her forehead so she wouldn't hit a certain someone else.

"Stop saying 'yes' and standing there like a statue. What's the catch? What is it that you don't get?"

"He wouldn't do that. It would be so out of place, and like I said, he was busy all day."

That was it. Without a word, Kanae rummaged through Kyoko's pockets until she found the object she was looking for. She held Kyoko's phone in front of her.

"Prove it."

"Prove what?"

"That he was busy all day."

… … …

A song that sounded like it came straight out of a bad Disney movie was heard in the back of the huge movie set. If you looked closely, you could almost see the small fairies dancing around the serious looking man that seemed to be the source of this horrible noise.

Yashiro let out a small squeal of glee and quickly put on his gloves to cheerily answer his phone.

"Hello, Kyoko-chan! What can I do for you?"

"Ah, hi, Yashiro-san," Kyoko replied a bit hesitantly, slightly distracted by his overly joyous greeting. "Um, I have a question…"

"What is it?" The happy smile never left his face. In fact, it seemed to only increase when he noticed the slight discomfort. Hesitation always meant entertainment.

She did however not respond and he started to wonder if the connection had been broken. He frowned and checked his hand. No, there were no holes in his glove. "Kyoko-chan?"

He could swear he heard a small smack in the background and muffled arguments.

"Yashiro-san?" At hearing another, harsher voice in the phone all of a sudden surprised him.

"Yes?" He stammered, completely taken aback.

"What she'd like to ask is; on Saturday, when the party started, did Tsuruga have any breaks during that day?"

He blinked. What a strange thing to ask. Whatever. As long as it had to do with Kyoko it always managed to spark his curiosity.

"I... can take a look." He flipped through his calendar. "The longest one was an hour long, but he spent that in his dressing room – please tell Kyoko-chan he didn't eat – but other than that, only ten minutes ones. Why?"

"Thank you, that's all she needed to know. Bye." She hung up, completely ignoring his question, before he even got to conjure up a protest.

He stared at his phone in slight shock. He wasn't even given a small clue as to what this was all about.

"You broke your phone again?" He heard a familiar voice tease from his side. "Really, you should be more careful with your electronics."

"I didn't break it!" Yashiro snapped. "I was just… caught off guard."

"What do you mean?"

"Kyoko-chan, or rather, Kotonami-san just called." This worried the great actor, though he wasn't exactly sure whether he should be worried for himself or for the girls. "She, eh, they wanted to know if you had any breaks during Saturday…" Ren blinked. That was… surprising, to say the least.

"Why?"

"I have no idea. Kotonami-san hung up on me before I got a chance to ask anything more. Though I get the feeling she would have ignored me even if I would have gotten to chance to ask anything."

Ren shook his head, apparently just as confused about this as his manager.

"Well, I was busy all through that day, so…"

"Yes, and that was what I told them…" Ren watched in horror as the all too familiar sly grin appeared on Yashiro's face.

"Though Kyoko-chan seemed a bit too flustered to ask, Kotonami-san even had to step in. Maybe Kyoko-chan wanted to know if you'd actually had a chance to come earlier to the party, but didn't want to." He giggled. "Oh, wouldn't that just be wonderful!"

Ren quenched a groan, not feeling like dealing with his manager when he went into this mode, and turned to walk back on set. He made a mental note on asking Kyoko why she actually wanted to know this information. Did she want to spy on his eating habits again? It could have been plausible if it wouldn't have been for the fact that Kanae had to step in and ask the question. Kyoko would never hesitate stalking him for his health's sake.

He smiled. It must have been something else then.

… … …

"You see, it's not Tsuruga-san." Kyoko said as soon as her friend shut her phone and tossed it back to her. "And you didn't have to snatch it out of my hand like that. I could have asked myself!" She pouted defensively.

"Yeah, and wait here for five hundred years until you decided it was time to answer? No, you have to be a little more productive at times like this."

"I can be productive..." She muttered in response.

Truth be told, Kyoko had been scared to know the answer to the question. What would she have done if it proved to be him? She would most certainly be mad at him for planning to waist money on her for twelve days. But that wasn't her true concern. If he had been the one, what would bring him to do such a thing?

Kyoko shook her head. No, it wasn't him so she didn't have to think about it.

After talking a bit more, the girls decided to leave it for later, they couldn't figure anything out anyway and they had work to attend to. If they were right about the song, she would get more things in the future, and hopefully more clues. Although Kyoko was still not very fond of the entire "buy loads of stuff for nothing."-deal, all she could hope for was that the gifts would remain cheap.

The only thing she did after the ended phone call was to send a menacing text to her sempai, saying: I know what you didn't do this Saturday, and left it at that. I bet you wonder how a text can be menacing. Oh, Kyoko knows how.

Five hours later after a long day of thinking and working, not much different from her former day, she got home around six. She was still as clueless, if possible even more confused, than she had been this morning.

"Oh, Kyoko-chan!" The Okami greeted as soon as she saw the girl step into the restaurant. "Someone stopped by here today again and brought you something new." Kyoko froze. She had to play this carefully. She had to try to sneak some information out of the older woman in a smooth way.

"Really? Who?" Yes, really smooth indeed.

"Why don't you go up on your room and check it out and I'll just go back and help Taicho in the kitchen." Blatantly ignoring her question, the Okami went to her husband with a cheery smile, not the least bit fooled.

Sighing in defeat, Kyoko decided to do as the Okami had said and walked up the stairs, excited and cautious at the same time.

There were two black boxes with the logo of some fancy looking brand placed on her bed neatly, stamped in silver letters on the lid. She walked over to inspect the unfamiliar objects that had, in some mysterious way, made its way into her home.

No matter how hard she glared at the couple, they didn't reveal any sort of clue that could explain where they had come from. The only expected thing she could find was a small envelope that was identical to the one from yesterday, lying on top of one of the lids with a number two stamped on the front, similar to the first one.

With slightly shaky hands she opened the small envelope to find a note with, just like the day before, a small rhyme written on it.

_On day number two you'll get something pretty,_

_That you can wear on a party or just in the city._

Unable to bear the curiosity, she picked the box up and put it on her lap. It was about double the size of a shoe box, though much lighter than it should be if that would in fact have been the case.

Taking a closer look at the brand name printed on the box, she let out a small gasp. Kyoko didn't know much about all the in-brands when it came to fashion, but even she knew this was a famous and very expensive clothing line dedicated to rich people.

At this time Kyoko seriously considered leaving the boxes untouched, feeling she would never be able to repay whoever it was that had given her not only one, but two possibly very expensive items.

But just as she was about to get up and hide them in her closet, she decided that a small sneak peak wouldn't do any harm.

She pushed the lid open a few centimeters to take a look. She "accidently" opened it a bit wider, and then a bit more, until the lid was completely removed. Her mouth was slightly hanging open as she picked the beautiful dress up to take a good look on it.

It looked like a black sleeveless dress in stretch fabric that would fit snuggly on whomever it was that wore it. However, it wasn't exactly sleeveless like the former statement provided. A fabric completely made of see-through lace made long sleeves and would cover the wearer all the way up to the neck and the back.

If this was in the first box, what could possibly be lying in the second one?

She was just about to reach for the second box when she hesitated. She really shouldn't. She knew she could never buy any of this by herself, and now someone was spending all this money on her and was probably going to continue doing that until the twelfth day.

Her heart sank. She reluctantly put the dress back into its former place with a sad sigh, got up, walked out of her room and closed the door, leaving the gifts inside.

About twenty seconds later she burst back into her room, walked straight to box number two and removed the lid, not standing the curiosity. She decided she would return everything anyway, so it didn't matter if she sneaked a peak. She regretted it as soon as she did it.

"Oh my God."

This person had got to be mental.

**A/N: Told you I would post sooner this time! Thanks for all the support you guys give, it means the world to me! School starts next week, but I hope I'll be able to post sort of regularly anyway.**

**Love to MiracleMoon124 again for editing this for me!**


	4. Third day of Christmas

**12 Days Of Building Trust**

**I don't own Skip Beat. I would be too lazy to draw an entire manga.**

_This person had got to be mental. _

**Third day of Christmas**

_I knew she wouldn't mind the chocolate, just because it's small and not expensive, but jumping directly to buying her two expensive dresses was a bit dangerous. _

_But I had to! I couldn't have started with them, and she would have outright refused if I had tried to give her more. I can more than clearly see the expression she would make if I tried this on a later day..._

_All I can do for now is hoping I won't find the two boxes waiting to be picked up by me because she simply refuses to accept them. If she miraculously survives this, she might not be as shocked by the rest of the gifts. Maybe she might even keep them... even when she finds out that it's me._

Sigh. _I suppose that this is the only thing I can really do better than Tsuruga Ren would ever be able to. At least for now._

-.-

"So you got something new yesterday?" Kanae asked with genuine surprise in the phone.

"Yes." Kyoko grumbled, which caused the taller girl to raise her eyebrows.

"But why do you sound so depressed then? Was it a dead rat?" She asked jokingly.

When she didn't get a reply Kanae felt the dread wash over her as her eyes went wide. "Oh, God, I was right, wasn't I? No, that's not even bad enough. You were given _two _rats!"

"No!" Kyoko hastily protested. "It's nothing dead. It's something even _worse_." She wailed.

Kanae was stunned. What could possibly be worse than two dead rats? Two living, rabid ones?

"What… oh." When she thought about it, it was actually kind of obvious. "It was that expensive, huh?" She took the new silence as a yes. "Really? What was it?"

Kyoko stayed silent a few more moments before she mumbled something incoherent.

"I'm not telepathic, so could you please be so kind and repeat that?"

"… Two dresses."

"Two dresses?"

"Yes. From Rose Petals."

All of Kanae's previous thoughts flew right out of the window as she tried to find a decent sentence to say. But apparently the thing called "language" was completely gone from her head.

"Rose Petals." She could finally utter after a minute, only repeating the other girl's former words.

Kyoko continued her way of answering; by not answering at all. However, Kanae had known Kyoko for more than a year, so she could more than well imagine her nodding while looking as depressed as she sounded. She could pretty much feel the dark aura coming from the phone.

"And you don't want them." Kanae stated.

"Oh, I want them…" She answered airily. "I just don't like the way this person spends so much money on me. It's scary."

One, two, three, four, five seconds of silence.

"It's official." Kanae suddenly declared. "You've gone mad."

This did actually shake Kyoko out of her daze. She pouted. "Why would you say such a cruel thing?"

"Because of obvious reasons! You're actually _considering_ turning down not only one, but _two_ dresses from _the _Rose Petals. You know, that super famous clothing line? The one where you have to be pretty much filthy rich to even consider buying anything? Any girl's dream garments?"

Kanae was livid. All her life Erika had been able to buy clothes from any store she desired and Kanae secretly wanted to be able to do the same. So the day when she discovered this brand she fell in love with it and put it up as a goal to one day afford it, knowing even Erika would be envious of her style. And even after she started to forget about the hateful girl, she still loved the brand.

Yes, she was _very _green with envy for the moment being, but that didn't mean she would let Kyoko return such a treasured gift.

"But…"

"No buts!" Kanae cut her off before she even got the chance to protest. "You. Take those dresses and put them into a sacred place in your wardrobe, and protect them with your _life!_ There's a chance you'll never be able to even get close to these kinds of clothes ever again."

Kyoko tried to intervene in her friend's outburst of rage that went on and on, but she couldn't even find a small glitch where she could step in.

"… And if I hear from somewhere, _anywhere_, that you've tried to give them back, I'm personally going to strangle you." Kanae finished her furious outburst.

"But what if I'll get more things that are even _more _expensive than these? I could never be able to accept such things! It's too much!"

"Accept what from whom?" Kyoko heard an all too familiar voice from behind, causing her to freeze.

"Wait, who's that?" Kanae asked, but realizing that Kyoko didn't seem to be able to answer, it gave her a pretty good hunch. She didn't know whether she should feel bad for Kyoko or sadistic towards Ren.

"Moko-san… I'll call you back later."

"No, wait-" Kyoko hung up before she got to hear what her friend had to say. She nervously turned to greet the ridiculously tall man.

"Good morning, Tsuruga-san." She quickly plastered a bright smile on her face, trying to look as normal as possible. "I didn't notice you."

"Good morning to you as well," He answered, suspicion clear in his voice. "Can I be so rude and ask you what you were talking about just now?"

But being an actor gives you a few advantages. Sensing when someone was trying to hide something or lying was one of them.

"Oh, no, nothing." She replied a bit too excitedly. "I was just talking with Moko-san about, um…" She bit her lip, what should she say? She could trust him.

She could tell him.

"About what?" She had to hurry and decide quickly. He was dangerously close to the lethal smile that literally _hurt._She wasn't even aware of why she didn't want to tell him. This was ridiculous.

Was it a reflex?

"Uh, I just, um…" _Way to go_. Her Inner self congratulated her sarcastically.

He sighed.

"I see. There is something you can't trust me with." Instead of smiling the smile of doom, he settled for a sad one.

Kyoko sucked in a deep breath and she had to stop herself from taking a step back. _No! No, don't do that, that's even worse! _She panicked._ Go back to being scary already!_

"No, it's not really like that. It's just…" She tried to console him, but the only thing that went through her mind was how strange the entire situation was.

A moment of silence.

She shrieked involuntary when he sighed yet again. "I trust you! I trust you a lot, don't worry! I always go to you when I'm troubled, you know that." She blurted out without thinking and was just a little frightened at how true it was. "I trust you!" She pouted.

At least this seemed to somewhat reach him and bring some kind of genuine light to the tall actor's wary-looking face, because he decided to at least reward her with a small smile.

… And then he laughed.

"Okay, if you say it so persistently, I'll have to believe you." This gave her mixed feelings. She didn't know whether she should be mad at him, or just relieved. She decided for the no-expression reaction.

"But in all honesty, tell me if there's anything bothering you." He had completely recovered from his former sulk. Her expression stayed the same.

She knew she could. The thing was that…

"There you are, Ren! Oh, Kyoko-chan, how nice to see you…! Are you alright? You're beet red." Yashiro suddenly turned up from around a corner to find these two together. Alone, in the hall, with Kyoko blushing furiously.

Amazing.

"Ah, hi, Yashiro-san." It seemed like Kyoko had finally remembered how to move the muscles in her face. "This, uh… it's nothing. I um…" Finding she couldn't come up with a proper explanation she quickly stole a glance in Ren's direction.

Big mistake.

The grin he was pointing at her was enough to put the sun into shame and stun her into silence yet again.

"Ah, I see." Yashiro replied slowly after a while. "It's fine, you don't have to explain…" He glanced over to his charge. _But you'll have to._

He was practically dancing on clouds. This, however, didn't last long since the girl didn't seem to want to stay much longer.

"Well, it was nice meeting you both, but I need to get moving to my next job. Now." She stressed the last word.

Technically she didn't need to go until thirty minutes from now. She just needed an excuse to leave before she did something even more ridiculous and humiliating.

"Where's that? We're on a break, I'm sure Ren wouldn't mind giving you a ride." Yashiro quickly offered and gave his charge a meaning look.

Aha, it was that kind of day. The kind of day when everything decided to backfire.

"Oh, no! It's close by, I'll just walk." She declined, shaking her head. She would _not _tell them where she was going.

Ren gave her another sad-and-hurt-dangerously-close-to-a-puppy look, effectively giving her a bad conscience.

"And you, stop doing that!" She exclaimed and pointed at actor.

"Doing what?" Both men asked curiously at the same time.

"Nothing!" She cried out desperately.

Yes._ Everything _backfires today.

"Really, don't worry. It really isn't that far!" She stated a bit angry this time. Stupid actor. No one could possibly feel that sad about something as trivial as that. He just thought this was fun.

_Speaking of a certain stupid actor_…

She pointed at Ren with dangerous fire in her eyes, surprising the taller man.

"You. Wait here." She ran off.

"What-" Was all Yashiro could say before she was back again, holding some sort of package in her hand. "I know what you haven't done today, so here." She gave him the package.

"What's this?" He had a pretty good hunch.

"You know what. There was some leftovers from yesterday at the Darumaya, so I wrapped them up just in case I would happen run into you. That tends to happen on Tuesdays."

"I have eaten today…" He defended himself.

Kyoko raised her eyebrows, sending a silent question to Yashiro.

"Nothing decent." He confirmed.

"My suspicions exactly. Eat." He laughed and accepted the box. "But now, if you excuse me, I need to leave, or I will be late."

Though that was still a lie it seemed like something was finally going her way.

"Sure, do so. I…" Ren glanced at his grinning manager. "_We'll_ see you tomorrow. Thanks for the lunch."

"Anytime!" She quickly answered and ran off before she got into more trouble, leaving the two men alone.

_Should have thought about this sooner,_ she thought ironically, _all I have to do is to give an offering to the demon and he will let you pass._

Yashiro laughed. "She's on to you, you know."

"What do you mean by that?" Ren regretted he asked.

"'That tends to happen on Tuesdays', I know you heard it as well." He snickered. "Though she doesn't seem to mind. She even made a bento for you."

Ren glanced at the box that most certainly contained food he wouldn't be able to swallow down completely.

"And that I know for sure that you're going to eat everything of."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because she made it."

Ren didn't reply. Of course Yashiro was right. He could never throw anything that was made by Kyoko away. And even if he did, she would eventually find out and all hell would break lose.

"But isn't it more like she's on to you?" Ren counterattacked, trying to get the attention away from him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yashiro snorted.

"You're the one making my schedule."

"Yes, that's true, but only to match your interests. If you want to, I could change it so you don't have to meet her at all." He swiftly opened his planner and held a pen to the paper. He looked up at Ren with his most professional expression. "Just tell me."

The threat gave him the wanted reaction. Yashiro knew Ren all too well. There was no chance the actor would ever tell him he was fine with it, so he just clenched his teeth and walked away, followed by his wholeheartedly laughing manager.

-. -

"Phew,"She breathed as she stepped out of her Bo costume. "That was too close!"

She wasn't exactly referring to the Question Egg she'd nearly dropped on the special guest's head. No, she was thinking more about her entrance to the building earlier this day.

She had _not_ expected Ren and Yashiro to have some work to do in the same building as Kimagure Rock was being filmed.

When she was on her way to the show she had to sneak all around the building just to avoid meeting them in the middle of a hallway. But for some reason, Ren tended to show up wherever she went, with a confused looking Yashiro following soon behind.

She even started to fear that Ren was going to make an appearance on the show, but in the last moment, they turned and went into another direction, leaving her at peace to play the chicken.

"Awesome as always!" The taller men of the Ishibashi brothers called as soon as she stepped out of her dressing room, apparently waiting for her.

"Thanks guys. You too!" She returned cheerily to the brothers that had made a habit of waiting for her to come out.

"Thanks," Yuusei replied with equal enthusiasm before smiling playfully. "You know, there is something Hikaru wanted to ask you before you left today."

She blinked.

"Really?" The fact that the shortest, yet oldest, of the guys hit Yuusei on the back of his head didn't exactly make her surprise and new confusion disappear. "What is it?"

Hikaru hesitated for a millisecond before he turned to her.

"_We_," Hikaru stressed the word. "Wanted to know if you liked the necklace we got you."

Before she even got to answer, his brothers were quick to intervene.

"Oh, don't be so modest, boss. You were the one who found the necklace." Yuusei clapped his brother on the shoulder.

"Yeah, and you were the one saying it would look just _lovely_ on her." Shin'ichi followed up, leaving their shorter pseudo brother at a loss of words and highly embarrassed.

Kyoko laughed.

"Really? Thank you so much, Hikaru-kun. I really love it!" And to everyone's huge surprise and shock, she stepped up to give Hikaru quick a hug. "You're such a good friend!" She turned to the others and added, "You too as well of course."

After talking some more (though Hikaru stayed awfully quiet for some reason) she bid her good byes and left the studio.

"Woooow, did you _see_ that?" Yuusei nudged Hikaru in the side with his elbow. "Dude, you have a chance, you know."

The boy in question shook himself out of his daze and smiled sadly.

"No… I don't." He sighed.

"Whaddya mean by that? She _hugged _you!" Shin'ichi exclaimed.

"Yes, but…" he frowned. "You heard her. She only thinks of me as a friend."

"Whatever, dude, she hugged you. It can change, don't give up so easily."

Hikaru smiled again, not really feeling that it was a fight worth fighting. He had seen her with _him _on the party, he wasn't blind after all. He sighed again and the other two tried to cheer him up by promising to buy dinner.

-.-

When she got home that evening she felt more reluctant than ever to go up those stairs. You could never know what she would find in there. What if she stepped in there and found a huge, queen-sized bed crammed into her tiny little room?

She stopped on the first step of the staircase. Actually, that sounded quite appealing for the moment. Shaking her tired thoughts out of her head she started to walk up, the terror quickly escalating again.

When she finally reached the door to her room she shook all over, feeling that whatever she would find on the inside would be something horrible, no matter how wonderful it was.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and opened the door. Without looking she stretched her arm into the room, just to make sure if she needed to mentally prepare herself for something so huge she would drop dead from the shock.

When nothing was found, she slowly opened her eyes and took a good look at her room. Everything looked like it should; boring and normal. It was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen in her life.

She burst into her room, dancing and singing, thanking her blessings that she and Kanae had been wrong. This had nothing to do with that stupid song. It was just some random person who…

She suddenly stopped.

There, on the small table where all her other gifts used to be, lay a very offending envelope right next to a small, wrapped up green package.

There was no expression on Kyoko's face as she glared down on the thing, and she could swear it was glaring right back at her.

"No," She said out loud. "I'm not going to open you up. Not a chance, not this time."

The package continued to lie peacefully on the table, making no effort to move.

"Not even if you stare at me like that." She turned around having her back facing the small gift. She could _feel _how it burned small holes in her neck.

She tried, she really did, but after a valiant struggle she finally had to cave.

"Alright, but this _is _the last one. Then I'm done with you." She muttered more to herself than to anything else.

She picked up the note from the envelope marked with number three and read;

_Third day's gift won't be as scary,_

_It's something small, so don't feel wary._

_Oh, I feel wary alright._ She thought to herself, more irritated by the second, as she studied the grassy green gift.

"If you happen to be diamond necklace I swear I'll throw you out the window." She threatened the gift as she started to unwrap it.

To her surprise it really was something not that bad. They were simple hairpins with small silver flowers and stems that decorated the pin. In the center of each flower was a transparent, glass stone. (Or at least she told herself they were made out of glass.)

She looked at them in silent awe, a small voice in the back of her head telling her she shouldn't accept this, but it was easily squashed by her sparkle-loving side.

"Well, you aren't a diamond necklace…" She slowly reasoned after a while of thinking. "And it _would _be rude to turn this down now…" The side of her that thought this was very immoral screamed its tiny little lungs out, but Kyoko had already made her decision.

She glanced at her wardrobe, feeling the presence of one particular piece of clothing.

"And we wouldn't want Moko-san to strangle me now, would we?"

Thinking about how stupid she behaved, she finally settled for a grey-zone.

"Alright. I'll accept whatever I'll get. But as soon as I figure out who this person is, I'm going to have a long, nice chat with him or her about how to spend money properly and return everything right back." Having that said she felt slightly better about her choice.

"But everything's so expensive!" She suddenly wailed. I said 'slightly' after all.

**A/N: I am SO terribly sorry you had to wait all these months! But my editor could never find the time to edit, so it was decided that I have to try to do this on my own. I only hope there aren't too many mistakes in this chapter.**

**Now I'm on my summer vacation, and now I can actually really promise you won't have to wait as long again. I even have all the chapters done; I just have to edit them a bit more. Thank you for your patience and support!**


	5. Fourth day of Christmas

**12 Days Of Building Trust  
>I still don't own Skip Beat! I wouldn't write fanfictions to my own manga.<strong>

"_But everything's so expensive!" She suddenly wailed. I said 'slightly' after all._

**Fourth day of Christmas**

oOoOo

"Kyoko-chan!" Aiko shouted as soon as she stepped onto the set and spotted the girl. "Early as always, I see."

"Good morning, Aiko-chan. Yes, better early than late." Kyoko shot the taller girl a teasing look and.

"What?" Aiko pouted. "It's only happened, like, once or twice…"

"Or seven." She looked over at the clock on the wall. She'd made it on time. Barely.

"It's a lucky number. I'm fashionably late, not outrageously." She put one of her hands on her waist, imitating a posing diva while looking at her nails and Kyoko couldn't do anything but to laugh.

"It's a good thing you're a good actress and have a likable personality…" Kyoko let the sentence drift, as if she was implying something else.

"Or what? They would throw me out? Hah! Would not think so, you guys wouldn't stand a _day_ without me!" She threw her hands up in the air dramatically.

"You might not want to bet your money on it." They heard a familiar voice grumble from behind.

Aiko quickly swirled around and put a hand to her forehead, saluting the man in front of her. "Oh, good morning to you, sir! I was just telling Kyoko-chan what a _wonderful _director you are."

No matter how strict Director Mori usually was, he had soft spot for people with a humor and a smile seemed to ghost his otherwise harsh face. He was however quick to scold his features with a cough and told the girls that since everyone wasn't quite there yet ("Which is surprising considering that Ito-san is present.") they wouldn't start just yet. They had a few more minutes to relax.

"He knows he loves me." Aiko stated with confidence as soon as the Mori was beyond hearing distance.

Kyoko had to laugh again. This was why Kyoko and everyone else liked Aiko so much; she was such a fun and likable person, always making people laugh. Even the director that was famous for his no-nonsense personality.

Though she could be a pain to be around at times as well.

"So," Aiko started and rubbed her hands together in a conspiring fashion. "Where is Mareo? Isn't he supposed to be here today?" She gasped and put both hands against her cheeks in a dramatic manner. "Don't tell me, Mr. Perfect is about to ruin his record?"

"No, he's not." Kyoko stated bluntly. "It's just that that he doesn't have any scenes until after lunch."

"And how come _you _know that?"

"Because he told me." Kyoko stated matter-of-factly.

"And why did he tell you?" Aiko narrowed her eyes and picked up her cellphone to turn on the small camera light, just to shine it in Kyoko's face, imitating a cliché police interrogation.

"Because we're coworkers?" Kyoko pushed the hand holding the phone away from her face and laughed.

"I see…" Aiko nodded understandingly, though she didn't put the phone away. It was obvious she wasn't quite done yet. "What else do you know about his schedule?"

"Uh, tomorrow he's going to have a full day of work, then on Thursday he's-" Kyoko stopped when she noticed the sly grin on Aiko's face. "What?"

"Oh, no nothing, I just think it's fascinating how you, as a 'coworker', know so much about his life." She blinded Kyoko yet again with the small light. "Tell me the truth! Are you a stalker?"

"No I'm not." Kyoko objected just a little flustered and grabbed the small device away before the taller girl could react. "We talk a lot. He even knows about mine about as much as I know his."

"Really?" The grin just widened on Aiko's face. She didn't even seem to care her phone was gone.

"What do you even mean by- No, wait. Don't say anything, I'm kind of sure I don't want to know." That was a complete lie. Kyoko was absolutely positive she didn't want to know. "Friends know a lot about each other."

"Right." The grin was still not leaving her face. "I'm sure Mareo only values you as a friend and not as a-"

"And could you please stop calling him that?" Kyoko suddenly interrupted in an attempt to change the subject. This was going way too far to be in her taste. "Here's your phone. Please stop pushing it into my face."

"I know." Success. "But Tsuruga Ren isn't even _nearly_ as fun as Mareo." She started to sing the theme song for the legendary Nintendo game while finally putting the phone down in her bag. "I just can't stop imagining him bouncing around in red and blue plumber clothes. It's hilarious!"

Kyoko froze and cringed. She did _not_ think it was the least bit funny and she instantly knew she would have to fight all of her senses to get rid of the horrible images that threatened to sneak into her mind, though she realized this was the price she had to pay for not wanting to talk about subjects that made her heart ache; she was bound to forever think about Super Mario whenever she met the great actor. Fabulous.

"No. There's an e in there, an _e_. It's a totally different letter than an i!" She exclaimed more to herself than to Aiko.

"E, schmee. Same thing." The other girl shrugged with ease, not at all bothered by this horror.

"No, it's not!"

"Girls! For the last time, listen up!" Mori shouted from the other side of the room. "We're going to start now, so if you would _please _come over here and listen to what I have to say? You can finish your little chat later; when we're not working."

Kyoko froze as her face turned bright red. She hadn't even noticed someone was trying to get their attention.

"Yes sir!" Aiko waved her hand cheerily. "We will be quiet and-"

"Could _you _be quiet?" He raised an eyebrow towards her and she responded by closing an invisible zipper over her mouth.

"Thank you." He sighed. "As I just told the others, the plans for today are a bit changed. Tsuruga-san won't be joining us until after lunch, so we'll switch the shootings. It's a good thing we're shooting this inside, otherwise it would be hard, taking the light into account and what not. 

We'll start with the first scene with Suzu and Madoka alone. Then we will also do some scenes with Hitomi. So you'd better be prepared." He shot a warning look to Aiko as he said this. She just snorted.

"I'm always prepared." She whispered to Kyoko, playing falsely offended.

"So, let's get started folks and…" He sighed. "For crying out loud, Kyoko-chan, go put on your wig already."

The girl in question gasped and ran off to get it and scolded herself while doing so.

Truth to be told, Mori could never be genuinely angry with the girls, they were both too likable – unlike many stars he'd worked with before – and at least one of them knew it. Kyoko always tended to take everything a bit more seriously than the others, and then he didn't mean her acting.

He sighed. Although her self-confidence could be slightly off at times and she seemed too modest to be good for her (perhaps she and Aiko should do a personality trade?), the fact still remained. She was a splendid actress and he could never have found anyone better suited for this role. When he had been looking for a rare chameleon among the many trees, he'd miraculously found one.

A few minutes later the chameleon in question returned to the set. With her dark brown, curly wig on place, she was ready to turn into the shade that would perfectly blend with her environment.

As exhilarating as it always was to transform, this particular role had a heaviness that always managed to put extra pressure on her, literally like carrying a heavy and uneasy stone in her stomach.

She played the role of the seventeen-year old Nagai Suzu, a girl that had lost her entire family as a small child in a bank robbery. After this incident she completely shut herself off to the rest of the world and behaved very much like a robot.

She had been jumping from family to family all her life since she didn't have any relatives to stay with, and the foster families in question couldn't handle the peculiar girl for any longer period of time.

She wasn't a trouble maker but she never said a word if she wasn't asked anything or if she really had to. She didn't even ask for anything. This naturally lead to the conclusion that she didn't care about anything around her, which every psychologist she'd ever met had declared.

But strangely enough she still got extraordinary good grades in every subject in school, the art class was the only exception, and she never failed to give a gift to a person from her current home on Christmas or on their birthday.

But because of her strange, odd and unsocial behavior, she was constantly sent to new families since the one she stayed with never knew what to do with her. No one ever understood her and they just thought she didn't like them and their home.

This story starts when she's placed in yet another home, the home of the Arakida family. They were all so very kind to her, and she always felt so bad for not being able to show them the gratitude they deserved, like every other family she'd ever stayed with. But even though this ate on her she didn't let herself to open up even a little to anyone.

She was convinced she couldn't be trusted.

Completely morphed into her character, Suzu carefully placed herself on her new bed, staring at the wall in front of her. Suddenly she could have sworn she heard the word "action!" being called from a remote place, like a dream.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on her door.

"Hi, Suzu-chan." Madoka, the mother of the family, greeted. "How are you doing, love?"

Suzu gave her a small smile, not quite portraying any real emotions.

"I'm fine. Thanks."

Smiling sadly in return, Madoka stepped into her room and placed herself on a chair beside the bed.

No one said anything. The only sounds that could be heard were the chirping of the birds outside the window and the soft, creaking noise the chair made when Madoka moved slightly back and forth. A habit she'd had ever since she was a small child.

"I know it must be tough for you right now." Madoka said after the moment of silence. "I still remember how it was for me."

Suzu looked up, for the first time showing some kind of, though careful, interest since she got there.

"Yes, that's right." She nodded. "I was a foster child myself. My dad…" She drifted off. "… Wasn't really the best of fathers, so I had to move. I've lived with many families, but never really found a proper home. Not until I met Akihiro and started my own family here, that is."

Madoka paused. She wanted to give room for Suzu to ask or say anything, but when nothing happened she continued.

"So just because of that I have given every child that has ever stepped into this home at least a few years of love and happiness. This, of course, will also include you." She gave her a tender smile. "No matter what happens to you I want you to know that as long as you're living under this roof you're a part of this family, no exceptions. If there's anything troubling you, you could always come to me or anyone else in our family. You can trust us."

For a split second Madoka swore she saw something flash behind Suzu's gaze, but it was gone so quickly she couldn't make a proper estimation.

Deciding that this small exchange was all she should do right now, she smiled gently, gave the girl a small clap on her knee and got up from her chair. Before she left the room she told Suzu that dinner would be ready in a few minutes.

When the door closed and isolated Suzu from the rest of the world yet again, the warmth that had seemed to be there for just moment disappeared, and a single tear managed to escape the girl's eye.

Why she was crying was however impossible to tell.

"Cut!" The director shouted, but it only had the effect of more tears falling uncontrollably from Kyoko's eyes.

"Kyoko-chan!" Kara, the lady who played the part as Madoka, shouted and ran up to the girl. "What's wrong?"

Kyoko blinked and dried the offending tears away with the back of her hand. "No. Nothing. I suppose that the dams just broke. I'm sorry." She laughed, though it didn't seem quite genuine.

Most people accepted this and didn't think about it further, though Mori did differently. He knew what was going on, and it wasn't often he witnessed such a thing.

Every time this girl stepped in front of the camera she completely emerged into her character, even to the point where she felt the torture the lost child was enduring. It was a rare quality and he had no idea how she could ever have imagined anything like that in the first place.

Had she endured something similar when she was younger?

As soon as they had put everything in place for the next scene, and made sure Kyoko's make-up was in order, they continued shooting a few more scenes with Suzu involving with the family.

They had already been shooting for a while, so some of the first scenes were already done, and even some of the last. But movies are always made in a strange order, so it's not that surprising.

Some of the scenes were from before she broke out of her nutshell, and some after, putting a lot of pressure on Kyoko to play her part right.

Then it was time for a special scene with Aiko, who played another foster child named Ohka Hitomi in the family. She had, like Madoka, been abused in her original home and had now been placed in this house a few months before Suzu.

"Action!"

"So, what's up?" Hitomi asked the odd, quiet girl as she leant against the wall of the house.

"I've been in school." Suzu answered.

"I see." Hitomi smacked with her lips while tossing a baseball back and forth in her hands just to have something to do while she tried to come up with something else to say. "Anything interesting happened?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Another short reply.

"Aw, c'mon, man, don't you do anything interesting, like, at all?" She huffed. "Seriously."

Suzu didn't know how to properly reply to this, so she did as she always did. Stayed silent.

Hitomi pushed herself gruffly away from the wall with her foot and stepped closer to the girl.

"You know, people won't like you if you just refuse to say anything or interact with them." She looked down on the ball she was holding.

"Here, catch!" She suddenly told her and lightly threw the ball to the brunette.

The girl in question was so startled by this that her automatic reaction was to put both hands over her head in terror. The ball hit her lightly on one of her calves.

"What are you doing? What part of 'catch' did you not understand?" Hitomi muttered irritated, though her expression changed in a matter of seconds. "Or wait, did you… did you just think I was about to hit you?" She looked hurt. "Dude, I would never… wait, what is that?"

Suzu's face paled.

"Nothing." She quickly replied and pulled down the sleeve of her jacket over her wrist.

"Don't you try to fool me." She quickly walked up to the girl, grabbed her arm and pulled the sleeve up again, displaying big, purple bruises.

She gasped.

"Who did this to you?"

"No one." Suzu hastily denied.

"Yeah, right. I said; who did this?" Hitomi glared at the smaller girl, looking more furious by the second, her grip on the arm was firm as stone. Suzu was given no choice but to give in.

"… Some girls from the school." She whispered in shame. She had not dared to tell anyone about it. What if it got worse? And she was sure it would worry the family, which she didn't want to happen. They were too busy with other things.

"You're bullied!" Hitomi gasped a second time. "Why haven't you told us? Oh, they should just wait. As soon as I know who they are, I'll…"

"No!" Suzu blurted out. "Please, don't. I- I don't think they will hurt me again."

Hitomi gave her a look that clearly told her she didn't believe it.

"I, uh…" She bit her lip, desperately trying to come up with an answer to please the girl. "I promise to tell you if anything like this happens again."

Hitomi stared at Suzu with narrowed eyes a few more moments, trying to find any sign of a lie. She finally let go of her arm. She did in fact not seem like the type to lie.

"You promise?"

"I do!" Suzu stuttered. "I really do."

"Swear on this family that you will."

This made the long haired girl pause for a moment. To swear on this family would be to swear on the most important thing she had for the moment.

"I do."

The angry frown on Hitomi's face suddenly morphed into a smile of absolute satisfaction.

"Now, that's a good girl." Suzu did not quite follow the sudden change of expressions. "Showing off emotions and all. I like that." Hitomi grinned and ruffled the small girl's hair before holding a fist up with a mischievous smile. "Yes, if they touch you again I promise I will turn them into sand."

The last sentence was said a bit too cheerfully for Suzu to feel comfortable about it.

Another cut was called and they were done for the morning.

"Ah, lunch!" Aiko quickly reverted back from her role and skipped happily off set to change clothes.

The mention of food had the same effect on Kyoko, but in another way. As she made her way to her dressing room she picked up her phone and started to send some important text messages.

Half an hour later the object of her schemes stepped onto the set.

"What do you mean?" The shorter man with glasses asked with a frown, clearly a reply on a discussion that couldn't be heard until now.

"I don't really know. I just have this eerie feeling nagging at the back of my mind; as if something bad is coming for me." The other person chuckled.

Suddenly, a very dark, ominous aura crept onto the two men and suddenly everything made so much more sense to Ren.

"Tsuruga-san…" Kyoko was standing in a shadowy corner a few meters away, sending evil looks his way. "I know what-"

"I didn't do today, I know." Ren shook his head. "The question is; how come _you_ know?"

Without a word she pointed at her phone and then to Yashiro.

"I have my spies."

The word 'traitor' passed through the actor's mind and he couldn't help but to give his manager a not so happy glance. When he turned around again to face the girl she had in a second left her dark corner and was currently standing right in front of him.

"So I have good news for you." She said unnaturally cheery, completely changed from her former, dark mood as she pointed to a door further away on the set. "They're giving us free lunch today."

"And what if I already knew about this and was planning on eating here?" He retorted with a smirk.

"No you didn't." His effort of sounding convincing was completely cut off. "Now, go eat."

Ren sighed in defeat, laughing slightly at the same time, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"You really don't need to-"

"Yes, I do." She snapped. "Who would do it otherwise? Yashiro?" She snorted, slightly offending the bespectacled man.

"You could almost think you enjoy doing this." Ren half groaned, half laughed.

"She does." Someone suddenly interrupted while munching on something crunchy. "I found chips, you want some?" Aiko offered the stunned trio.

"What do you mean 'I enjoy it'?" Kyoko hissed, completely ignoring the offer.

"Well, it's the only logical reason. What other reason could it be?"

"Because I-" She glanced up at Ren who was currently giving her a look she couldn't quite fathom. Was it… questioning? "I…"

"Care…?" Aiko finished her sentence slowly, like she was trying to help a small child pronounce a word the right way.

"I…" She paused while taking this in. "Suppose that's it."

Now that she thought about it, it was sort of obvious. Though she had always felt reluctant to admit it just because her brain didn't want to make that connection with a man. She wanted him to stay healthy simply because she cared for him. As a friend and a teacher, of course.

Nothing else. Don't be ridiculous.

Though she had no idea what kind of effect this little confession had on the two men, one man in particular, though he had a feeling that it didn't mean the way he wanted to.

Alright, that she cared had been obvious for most, but Ren was funny in that way that he was pretty much amazed every time she admitted such a thing. If Lory had been there, he'd say it was sad.

"Now that wasn't that hard, was it?" Aiko praised the girl merrily while putting a few more chips in her mouth. "You sure you don't want any?"

oOoOo

Yashiro wasn't sure what he loved the most.

Messing with Ren and his love life or seeing Aiko doing the job for him. He started to actually consider the latter option was the most enjoyable.

"So," She suddenly said as they were all sitting down, waiting for the shooting to start again. "Do you think the real lovey-dovey scenes will be hard for you to go through?"

Kyoko and Yashiro, who had been drinking water this exact moment, suddenly sprayed the content they had had in their mouth all over the floor in shock.

"Wha-what kind of question is that?" Kyoko coughed, completely scarlet in her face. If anything, that was the _last _thing she wanted to talk about, especially with Ren sitting right there beside her.

"You heard me. Is it?" The fact that Kyoko was obviously uncomfortable about this didn't faze Aiko at all. "Judging from the shade of the color in your face I would say… yes. But at the same time definitely… no."

Kyoko's eyes widened and she got even redder as uncomfortable images tried to sneak their way into her mind. She had, after all, read the entire script.

She felt Ren beside her, and she knew for _certain_ that he had been listening to what Aiko had to say. How could he not, you have to be deaf or asleep, no _dead_, to miss it.

She did not wish to look at him right now.

"Aw, c'mon Tsuruga, don't look so stiff. I didn't try to offend you. At least I know for sure you will do just _perfectly _fine."

But she had to.

Like Aiko had described; he was sitting _very _stiffly in his chair, just staring right at her friend. His face could have been made out of stone. He didn't even blink.

Why was he looking like that? Did it disturb him that much, or…

She prevented herself from sucking in a deep breath. Could he have been _hurt_ by her reaction?

"Tsuruga-san, I-" She really had no idea what to say, but was thankfully saved.

"Uh, Kyoko-chan," One of the crew members spoke from the side. "You have… a delivery, of some sort."

She paused for a second. She had a bad feeling about this. Everything had gone so badly since _he _came here, so it would be just her luck if…

She stopped breathing.

"… Is it possible there's an envelope with a number on attached to it?"

"Yes, actually…" The young man didn't really know how to react to her rigid expression. "I think it was a four."

I don't know if you could call this a rescue though.

"What?" She shrieked, her voice hitting a note a bit too high to be comfortable for anyone's ears.

"Y-yes," The boy stuttered, scared half to death. "It was just moved to your loge. But if you excuse me…" He ran off as quickly as he possibly could. He did not like the looks he got from either actor.

"A delivery?" Yashiro questioned surprisingly. "What could that be? Have you ordered something particular to come here?"

"No!" She hissed but quickly lowered her voice. "I… I don't have a clue as to what it might be."

"Hah!" Aiko laughed out loud. "I mean; yeah… are you sure? If you ask me, your reaction was a bit too dramatic to just 'not having a clue'."

"No, it's true! I, uh…" She shot a quick glance at Ren who looked strangely calm and unsuspicious. That was odd. "I really, truly don't-"

"I've heard about the gifts already." He simply stated.

"-Have any idea who it could possibly be!" She wailed. "Some random person (that I most likely know) have been giving me gifts everyday these last couple of days! And not cheap ones either, I don't know what to do!" She let everything out. Now that he knew there was no point in hiding it.

No wait, what?

"How did you…?" Kyoko stared at Ren incredulously. She now had the proof; he was in fact inhuman. He could read minds! This explained so much.

"Do you really have to ask?" He shot her a knowing look and realization filled her mind.

"Oh, the President." She nodded, but stopped short and creased her eyebrows. "But how does he know…?"

"Do you _really_ want to know?"

"Oh, never mind then." Not knowing felt like the better option regarding the President. At all times.

"Hold on!" Aiko suddenly interrupted. "You've been given gifts every day? Since when?"

"My birthday." Kyoko muttered, and as soon those words left her lips Aiko's eyes widened and she started to jump in her seat.

"Oh my God! It's just like the twelve days of Christmas-song, isn't it?" It annoyed Kyoko that she was able to figure this out so quickly when it took her and Kanae's combined brains to figure it out after two days. "How romantic." She swooned.

"I never said it was a guy."

"And you never said it was a girl." She stated matter-of-factly. "But why didn't you want Tsuruga to know about this?"

Right on target. As always.

"I didn't particularly try to hide it," She looked down fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"But you hid it nevertheless." He sighed. She could hear the hurt in his voice as clear as day and night and she snapped her head back up in shock to meet his sad gaze, his lips slightly turned downward. "I thought you trusted me. Wasn't that what you told me yesterday?"

And just like that, it was back. The place where the outside world was forgotten, a place where all the people around them seemed to dissolve into nothing, as if they did not exist. Meaning that the two other people sitting beside them were instantly forgotten.

She felt how her heart stopped dead in her chest.

She hated whenever he did that; looking like she'd just stabbed a knife into his heart. No one should be allowed to make such an expression.

"I do trust you." She whispered weakly, trying to sound as convincing as possible. She could not explain why she felt so desperate.

Or rather, she might have been able to in another universe, in a world where she didn't fear herself. Somewhere where she didn't have to be scared that what she felt might hurt herself and others. In a world that told her it was okay, that what had happened between them throughout the months since the horror movie wasn't just a figment of her imagination.

A safe world.

A perfect world.

"How can I?" He asked almost harshly, but it almost looked like he was more angry with himself than anyone else.

Though these months had not been completely fruitless. As their friendship grew stronger, her confidence to speak her mind around him had escalated in the same way and the only thing she knew right now was that he was being unfair. Even though she might not have felt like this back then; she would just beg for forgiveness on the spot, but after all these months he, and all her friends, has helped her realize she is more of an equal to others than she realized herself. She knew she didn't have to share everything with others.

"What would you do if I would happen to ask you about a few certain things we both know you would not like to talk about? And what if I would tell you that if you refused to answer me I would never speak to you again?" Her words were sharp and her eyes were almost glowing.

He froze into place. This shook the entire foundation of Ren's being. She'd hit him right on the sorest spot of his heart.

Her voice suddenly softened.

"But I trust you to know I would never do such a thing to any of my friends, especially not to you of all people. I just want you to know that you can trust me, even if I don't tell you every single detail of my life." 

Never in his life had he been so shaken by the words coming from a person, Rick's girlfriend was an exception, but Kyoko was very close. Her words were like the ones from the worst of nightmares, ripping his heart into pieces. But the reassurance she gave him felt sweeter than honey.

He slightly hunched his shoulders in shame, knowing that every word that she'd said were true. But since he felt so disappointed with himself for being able to get _her_ trust and telling him about it, he let out sharper words than he intended. He was usually good at hiding emotions, but with her, holding them in just got harder for each day.

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "I was being unfair. I suppose… I just get easily worried when it comes to things about you. And the fact that someone is anonymously giving you gifts just scared me."

Color started to spread to her cheeks at his confession, but she did her best to shake it off and avoid the full impact and meaning of his words. She hesitantly reached out a hand to gently touch his arm.

"It's okay, don't feel so beat up about it." This felt so odd and off. The roles were completely reversed compared to how it usually was. "I actually don't really know why I didn't want to tell you."

"Oh my God, you were scared he would be jealous!" Shattering the solitude they had been in, like a stone had been thrown at a window, they both snapped out of the trance to see two completely identical faces staring at them; their eyes were wide open and their jaws seemed to have dropped to the floor. The only difference was that one wore glasses.

Suddenly one of them, the one without glasses, shook its head vigorously back and forth while waving its hand in front of it.

"No, don't look at us. Please do continue."

Kyoko wanted to crawl down into a hole and die.

**A/N: And the next chapter is done.  
>Thank you all for your support and patience! At least you didn't have to wait five months this time. (And I promise you won't have to wait that long for the next one either!) ;) I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in there, like I said in the last chapter; I don't have an editor anymore since she can't find the time to do it for me.<strong>

**I would be overjoyed if you would leave a comment and tell me what you think, but you just reading this makes me happy, so love to you all and see you soon! **


	6. Fifth day of Christmas

**12 Days Of Building Trust  
>Considering that I have never set a foot in Japan should sort of convince you that I have nothing to do with the ownership of Skip Beat! But alright; disclaimer, disclaimer. I own nothing. <strong>

_Kyoko wanted to crawl down into a hole and die.  
><em>**  
>Fifth day of Christmas<strong>

OoOoO

Ren slumped down on his bed. It had been a very energy draining day. Not only had it felt as if the time had been going slower than a snail crawl, he also had to live through the _entire_ day together with his manager.

Yashiro never mentioned anything about the occurrences from the former day, but the actor consistently found the man giving him odd, long stares filled with awe. Ren was not the kind of man who got easily embarrassed, but this had been torture.

He lay down on his back, trying to relax, and stared up into the bedroom ceiling as his thoughts drifted off to the source of his problems. The face she had made when Aiko suddenly told her she thought Kyoko was worried he'd be jealous – which he was – was one of the most… curious things he'd ever seen.

Instead of protesting while lying on the floor crying her eyes out like she should according to her character description, it almost looked like… something clicked behind those golden eyes. And as soon that happened, something dark fell over her face as if she was angry.

But not with her friend, rather on herself.

But as soon as the look had appeared, it left her eyes and she mumbled incoherent stuff about Aiko being ridiculous while shaking her head. This was incredibly out of character. But what did he know? She was such an impulsive and unpredictable person. There were things she did and thought and things he wished she did and thought. The two had a tendency to blend together in his head.

He groaned, rubbed his temples and got up again, deciding it was time for an aspirin. It was surprisingly stressful to relax.

He walked to the kitchen, opened the cupboard to where he kept his medication, and as he reached in, his hand stopped right before grabbing it. Now that he thought about it, she was the one who had brought those there.

He shook his head. No, this was not the time to think about he-that. He should relax. He took a deep breath and got everything he needed, which was simply a glass of water and the pills. He leant against the tabletop and concentrated on getting his mind on other things to calm himself down.

Unfortunately, no matter what he tried, all thoughts led to that small, familiar voice telling him he should take better care of himself and rest more.

He glanced to his fridge that was most likely almost empty.

And eat better, the voice scolded.

Fed up about hearing voices, he surrendered to his own heart. He'd evidently gone insane anyway, so why even bother about trying? All he could see in front of him anyway was the memory of her with that wondrous gentle smile and promises to not leave him on that fatal day.

And although he knew she didn't _exactly_ mean the way he wanted her to, it still made the lump of constant anxiety in his stomach unfold.

He glanced at the floor and couldn't help the crooked smile that spread on his face. A year ago, no, only a few months ago she cringed or stiffened at his touch. Now she was willingly giving him the undeserved, but needed, comfort.

The role as BJ had been the most exhausting and painful role he'd ever had to act out in his entire life, but if it wouldn't have been for the soulless monster, he would never be this close to the girl of his dreams.

"How come I always have to be a murderer of some sort for some big change to happen?" The irony made him laugh darkly.

The thoughts of the finished horror movie made his thoughts head to a much more recent happening.

"You know, Ren…" Yashiro said with carefully chosen words less than an hour ago, just before he got out of his car. Thoughts that had probably bothered the older man all day were now finally being spoken out loud. "I don't know what's happened between the two of you, but the changes are obviously far greater than I could ever have imagined."

Yashiro paused, giving Ren a few moments to let the words sink in, preparing him for the conversation.

"But what I can say for sure is, no matter how uncertain you are, that she cares for you. Her entire being is screaming that you are far more important to her than she realizes herself. More than _you_ realize. And that _atmosphere._" He emphasized the word with amazement. "I don't know if you've noticed. But when you talk, or well, talk like _that_, it's just… wow."

Ren didn't reply right away, he only turned to look ahead of him, heaving a heavy sigh.

"She's not ready for me." He finally whispered with a heavy voice.

Without a warning, Yashiro suddenly smacked the side of Ren's arm with a stack of paper, making the actor completely freeze up in shock. That did not just happen.

"You are," The older man growled. "Probably the most cowardly man I know. She's right in front of you, carefully holding the silver plate with her heart on, waiting for you to convince her you'll guard it with your life. Yes, she's not saying anything outright, but you must be _blind_ if you can't see the signals. Like I said, I don't even think she knows she's doing it.

Every time you talk to her, she blushes. Every time you don't eat like you should, she makes sure you'll get something. Every time you turn away from her and looks somewhere else, her eyes loses some of their light. She's _longing_for you. She even admitted she cared for you."

There was a slight pause.

"Don't give me that look, I saw her at the party. She lit up like a candle when you arrived, obviously relieved when you walked up to her after you got separated when the cake had been served. she looked like she had never been happier."

His voice that had been scolding and hard, softened into a warmer tone along with his former harsh expression.

"And when you gave her that music box, you gradually started to gravitate against each other. No Ren, I didn't exaggerate when I said that back then, that's exactly what you did. You moved against each other while talking about whatever-it-was until you were a step from melting into each other."

He suddenly laughed out loud. "You should have seen Kotonami-san's face. She looked so horrified by this she practically ran from the director she was talking to just to make sure she got to interrupt, even though the most intensive part had already ended.

Then, jumping a few days forward, there was that conversation yesterday. Like I said, I don't know what's been going on when I wasn't looking, but she brought out a side of you that I'm damn sure no one in the state of Japan has ever seen."

Ren stared at his friend. Never in his life did he think that he'd get lectured like this by this man. The most cheerful, yet cool man he knew was telling him to sit straight in his chair.

Unfortunately it was like a lecture from a mother rather than a male friend.

"I don't know what's up with that person who throws money all around him, yes _him_, I can't believe it would be a girl, and gives Kyoko-chan all those outrageous gifts. I mean, those _shoes._" Yashiro seemed to shiver from the thought of how much money those two pairs most have cost. "What did that ridiculous rhyme say again?"

"_Four things that comes in matching pairs,_

_Anyone will be jealous of how you walk the stairs." _Ren quoted without a hint of a hesitation.

"How can you even remember that?"

Ren pointed at himself. "It's my job?"

"Oh, that's right." He nodded as if he just solved every problem theoretical physics had to offer. "But all I know is that you have to be careful. Someone is obviously going for her as well, and while I don't think she'd be in any danger of being snatched away considering the looks she gives you, I really don't think it would hurt to do something now.

Don't frown like that. The feelings are there, bright as the sun. All you have to do is gaining her trust. Just like she did for you yesterday."

After this very strange occurrence, Yashiro had left the car, and told him to rest and not think about this anymore tonight. He needed his brain to function at work, ending his advice with the embarrassing phrase 'no matter how close he was to the love of his life'.

Relax? Ren snorted. That's what he had tried ever since he got home, but it had obviously failed.

To tell you the truth, he had all along noticed that something was different about her. He'd seen the changes and he'd seen the care. He just doubted it was meant the way he wanted it too, and was too scared to fully act out on it even if it was. He just had no idea what to do.

All those smiles and blushes. The endless compassion… It was more than he could ever have hoped for even in his wildest dreams.

But there was jet another thing that caused an indestructible wall between them.

Her fear. He could see it so very clearly, lurking behind those golden eyes. She came close, regrets it and runs away, slipping from his grip. It didn't matter if she would do anything for him, as long as she was still so very afraid of letting him too close, he could do nothing.

_"All you have to do is gaining her trust, just like she did for you yesterday." _Yashiro's words echoed in his mind.

But how? Ren was now sitting on the couch, staring at the turned off flat screen TV, his mind desperately looking for an answer that could not be found. This certainly didn't help him get rid of the headache.

Yashiro wasn't exactly right either, not about the last part at least.

Kyoko had gained his full trust long ago.

Sure, he'd always thought he trusted her with his life and everything, but after being siblings for a few months he'd clearly been proved wrong.

Already before the shooting started he had had trouble with slipping. But she had never even hesitated to help even though she had no idea what was going on or why he was behaving so strangely.

But then there was that one time. After a long day as staying in character as BJ and being engulfed in terrifying memories and long buried feelings, he had completely gone into some scary daze and practically left the world of living.

But when Setsu, or rather Kyoko finally called out to him, he returned. The pain was so unbearable he'd only responded by collapsing on the floor into a sitting position, gasping for air that didn't quite satisfy his lung's needs.

Instead of outright panicking like most people would, she had instead gathered some supernatural calm and bent down to try to reach out to her brother/sempai, ignoring the gasping man lying on the floor beside them.

She did however not meet Ren, or Cain for that matter, she was instead met by an entirely different person.

He had been so scared at that moment. Every single action he'd done the last couple of minutes came back to him like a flood. He couldn't believe he would ever lose his control this way.

Though that wasn't the most frightening part of it all. This was plenty more than enough to scare any girl, no, person, to death and he was sure he would lose her forever.

But she just… stayed there.

He couldn't quite remember what he did at that moment, only that he hadn't been able to control the words that escaped his mouth. He could however recall _her_exact words.

She had gently placed both of her small hands on each side of his face and spoken to him, her voice didn't fail even once.

"I'm not going anywhere." She started off in a low whisper. "Yes, I can see the scared and so very angry child in you, the one that caused pain to people, but so much more to himself.

But that person isn't you.

You obviously don't see it yourself, but I can prove it to you. If you were to let all of your guards and pretenses down in any normal situation, would you actually feel the urge to hurt anyone? Would you ever…" She hesitated, but only for a second. "Ever hurt me?

No, I _know _you wouldn't. You've been lost and perhaps you still are, but the real _you_ don't mean any harm to anyone, just the anger of being constantly put under hard pressure.

Everyone has their dark sides, some darker than others, but I only value the side that's the most overpowering; their true personality. Your mistakes don't even begin to cover the caring, protecting, helpful and, dare I say, sometimes even childish personality you have."

She gently stroked some of his hair away from his face and chuckled lightly. All he could do was to stare at her, not quite sure if this was a dream, or something that his brain made up to compensate for the pain.

"Like I said, I'm not going anywhere." She confirmed once again, this time with more conviction than determination. "I just realized this, and I'm very confused as till why this is the case, but for some reason you allow me to see _you_."

He blinked.

"Yes. I can be dense, but I'm not that stupid. For some reason I've gained your trust enough for it and I don't know why, and I do not care. As long as I can reach out to you that is all that matters."

She paused. He had no idea where this came from or how she ever gained the courage to say this, but it sparked a sense of warmth within the dark and cold inside of him.

Suddenly she started to look a little embarrassed and, although she was still holding his face, she was not looking in his eyes as she told him the next part.

"I now know you value me as a friend… and I see you as one as well. And as my friend I couldn't just let you suffer alone when I know something's troubling you."

Even to this day, five months later, he could still not believe that she had ever uttered those words, even though he didn't have a clue as to what _he _had said to cause this reaction.

That was the first time she'd called him her friend, the first time she'd openly confessed she cared. The first time she confirmed she understood she meant something to him.

But more importantly; she was the first one to see that there was someone else behind the mask of Tsuruga Ren. Sure, other people had caught glimpses, but she saw the true differences between the two.

This incident had crushed some kind of invisible wall between them and opened up to the private world where they were the only welcomed inhabitants.

However, the one million dollar question still remained: Just how _much_ did she care and feel? And if she felt enough for him, how would he ever know what to do to be able to gain her absolute trust?

Then _of course _there was that annoying personal gift giver. He wasn't the least bit worried that this person would be dangerous. In fact, he knew who it was. He was just so insanely jealous. Why couldn't he just give her gifts which she would accept? Reluctantly, yes, but still accept them.

Without a warning his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone. Under normal circumstances he would feel relieved to have something else to think about, since this was putting him under way too much stress, but for some reason a dreadful feeling came crushing down on him as he heard the familiar signal.

He stared at the phone stubbornly vibrating on the table a full minute until it finally stopped, immediately going to voicemail.

Then it started again, and he understood his fears had to be confirmed. Something horrible must have happened.

He hesitantly reached out his hand to pick the small device up, feeling the bad feeling in his stomach grow by the second.

"Ren?" The anxiety in Lory's deep voice was overwhelming.

The actor didn't answer, he already knew something had happened and he counted on his boss to just inform him.

"There's been an accident." He finally said after counting to ten, letting Ren to get somewhat mentally prepared.

OoOoOoO

Kyoko looked down on her right ring finger. On it was a small silver ring that was decorated by five small, see-through stones that were perfectly placed around each other to create a small flower.

This time she had been really close to throw the envelope and the tiny little black box out of the window as a revenge for yesterday, without even giving it as much as a curious glance.

She was still livid about the whole happening the previous day.

If the Giver just could have sent the freaking shoes to her home as always, she wouldn't have needed to go through the humiliation of hearing Aiko's remarks all through the afternoon.

"Don't attack him on set just because you can't control yourself. And if you can, watch out so he won't be attacking _you_." And "Your boyfriend is talking to another girl. You better go interrupt before something happens."

Yes, this was the kind of comments she had to live with.

She didn't even want to know what Yashiro had been thinking, and she thanked Heavens the President hadn't been there.

_"Do you really have to ask?" _The tall man's words repeated themselves in her head andshe shivered. She desperately wished with all her heart that Takarada hadn't been able to overhear their conversation in some ninja-kind of way.

But he just had to be everywhere at the same time, just like those particles that's on two places far away from each other in space at the same time.

Why had the Giver decided to send it there anyway? To mock her?

Kyoko had called Kanae later that day, who had in turn nearly laughed her insides out when she heard Aiko's joke about Ren and Super Mario, telling Kyoko to tell Aiko she was a genius.

Kyoko even had to, though grimly, admit to herself that this was something that would make a certain blonde's day so much better. Therefor this information must stay classified.

Kanae had indeed become very upset about this delivery, though it wasn't because it humiliated Kyoko and made her day dreadful. No, it was because Kyoko got not one, but _two_pairs of free shoes. Life wasn't fair, as she stated it.

After she was done with her little rant she just gave her friend a simple theory.

"Maybe the Giver wants to make a statement? To show off to someone that he's giving you things day after day."

"It might be a girl!" Kyoko cut in.

"As well as it might be a guy. I'm just tired of saying he, she or the Giver all the time. But just think about it, it makes sense."

"But why would the-, uh, _he_ want to do that? And show off to whom?"

"Play dumb and I swear I'll never talk to you again." Kanae angrily retorted.

After a few moments of silence and inner battles, the auburn haired girl she let go of a shaky breath.

"There is nothing out of the ordinary between us…" Kyoko answered too weakly for it to be called a declaration, it was only a week try to convince herself more than anyone else.

The only response she got was an unsympathetic snort.

So now here she was, looking down on the ring. She felt a strong urge to simply throw it, together with the dresses, hairclips and shoes into the wardrobe, lock the door and swallow the key. If that wouldn't be enough, she trusted her demons to guard it. She was just starting to get _really_sick of this.

Everything was so horribly lovely and caused her a great deal of trouble.

_Time for number five; an apology from me._

_I know I did wrong, but this is all for thee._

She did not accept the apology. It didn't matter if it was a simple, not all too expensive (she hoped) ring. Right now she didn't want to have anything to do with who-ever-it-was who gave her all of this.

Sure, she was wearing the ring for the moment (she couldn't help herself, it was too cute to resist), but this needed to just wished she knew who it was so the game would stop and she could hand all the things back.

She was in the middle of throwing a fit and randomly aiming her wand she got from Maria, name this person Giver, and hope it would hit. She didn't care if she would accidently curse a man on his way to propose or a child on its way to hand over a birthday present.

But suddenly, interrupting her angry fit, the hair at the nape of her neck stood on end.

She froze. It was as if an eerie wind swept through her soul. She suddenly got the feeling that something really bad must have happened. She had no idea what it might be, but it was scaring her.

Twenty seconds, thick with terror, passed by as she stood frozen into place.

"What _is_ this?" She whispered to herself.

"Kyoko-chan!" Someone, Okami-san, called from downstairs all of a sudden, pretty much confirming her fears. "There's… something on the news that I think you should see." The tone in the older lady's voice severely alerted the young girl. Something was definitely wrong.

She sprinted down the stairs to find the owners of the Darumaya standing in front of the small TV in the living room. Kyoko sucked in a deep breath as she watched the headlines of the latest news.

She had to steady herself against the counter.

The Taicho, who had almost expected this, rushed to her side to hold her upright so she wouldn't collapse on the floor.

"Oh, dear," The Okami burst out. "Kyoko-chan, are you alright? I knew you had some connections to this man, but I didn't think it would cause you such a shock. I should have warned you, I'm so sorry."

Kyoko said nothing as she stared at the words 'Japanese actor Hizuri Kuu in a car accident!' flashing on the screen.

**A/N: Please don't hurt me! I'm so sorry! I really don't have a legitimate excuse to why this chapter is so late. I've simple been procrastinating, and now I'm procrastinating by writing this instead of doing homework. Which I'm going to have a lot of in the future, so I'll probably post more because of that.**

… And I needed to do something to get my mind of the latest chapter that is so intense that I don't know what to do with myself, and now we have to wait a month!

I hope you all have a lovely time, and thanks for all the favs and comments, and everything. Makes my day every time!  
>Cheers!<p>

** -RDC**


	7. Sixth day of Christmas

**12 days of building trust**

**I'm too tired to come up with some creative disclaimer, so no. I do not own anything that has to do with Skip Beat!**

_Kyoko said nothing as she stared at the words 'Japanese actor Hizuri Kuu in car accident!' flashing on the screen. _

**Sixth day of Christmas**

oOoOo

Today had been a very strange day indeed. No one seemed to be able to concentrate on their rightful task. Everywhere that she went she heard people talk about _that _instead of doing whatever they actually should do.

In any other line of work people would probably not be this obsessed about such a thing. Yes, they would probably talk about it, but not like the earth had been close to an apocalypse, but I suppose that's what you get when you work in the showbiz-industry and one of their national heroes are nearly killed by a truck.

Hizuri Kuu had survived, though he had a dislocated shoulder, his right thigh-bone was broken in two places with a small concussion to top it all. His driver on the other hand was now permanently wheelchair bound caused by a broken back. There's a reason why celebrities sit in the backseat.

The truck driver, who had caused the accident by falling asleep, got away with only a few bruises and a serious shock.

Kyoko was positive that night had been the worst in her life. The impact of knowing she had been so very close to lose her most precious Otou-san was overwhelming… she almost even dared to say it crushed her more than when her mother left her as a child. Even though she had only known him for such a short while, he had done more for her than that woman ever did, and therefor he had become a pillar to keep her going.

A pillar that almost turned into dust beneath her.

She had been glued to the TV all night, watching the news as they announced what had happened and the current state of the famous actor every other minute. When it was finally clear he was going to completely recover she could finally let some of the tension in her body go. She could breathe, but the shock stayed firmly in her body, refusing to let go of her trembles.

Nor did that eerie feeling she had had ever since yesterday.

Her absolute first instinct upon hearing about the accident was to call the only person she knew could help her calm down by just hearing that person's voice. She didn't even hesitate to pick up the phone, though with a shaking hand. She was so desperate for comfort she completely forgot about her modesty and fear of being a nuisance to everyone around her.

The problem? He didn't pick up.

She realized he might have gone to bed already, which instantly gave her a bad conscience and she decided to wait until the next morning. But no matter how many times she tried to call in the morning, day or in the evening, he never answered.

She started to worry.

The eerie feeling grew stronger.

She decided to call his manager, but when Yashiro answered he told her that he was in fact just about to call her about it. All he knew was that Ren had taken a day off without telling him the reason.

Now she panicked.

The Tsuruga Ren would _never _do such a thing voluntarily, not even if he couldn't walk because of a deadly decease.

There was only one thing that could cause that kind of reaction from him. One that only she knew of.

Well, alright, she didn't exactly know the _reason _for that reason, but there was only one thing that could possibly make the great actor not get up in the morning to get to work. It was simply because he couldn't put his mind into it. At all.

All of these occurrences had led her to be standing here, 9pm in front of the apartment door of the highest rated actor in Japan, anxiously waiting for him to open the door. When she got no response upon ringing the doorbell, the uneasy lump that had taken its place in her stomach just grew bigger and bigger for each second.

She unconsciously took a firmer grip on the bag full of excuses to be there, in other words; groceries. She wasn't going to give up just yet. She pressed the doorbell again, and then again. She even decided to knock once, twice, thrice… But still nothing.

"Please, Tsuruga-san…" She whispered pleadingly, feeling her heart going twice the speed it should.

Suddenly, when she thought there was no hope and she started to wonder if she could find a lock picking 101 somewhere nearby, she heard something on the other side of the door.

Steps, though in her mind; hope.

As the steps approached her from the other side of the wall she was for the first time hoping that he had simply come over with a horrible stomach flu. Something she would never find herself wishing onto another person she cared for, but anything would be better than _that_. Though when the door finally opened she had to suck in a sharp breath as Ren appeared in the opening.

At first he had had a stern expression on his face, but when he saw her it immediately turned into surprise, but the gaze was kind of… empty, like his mind was actually lost somewhere far away. His entire body looked… hunched and he was dressed in only sweatpants and a simple T-shirt.

It was even worse than she had imagined.

"Mogami-san…" He greeted quietly, almost disbelievingly, as a small light seemed to take hold behind those eyes that…

Her eyes widened and she had to use all of her self control not to gasp out loud.

… Blue?

For some reason a flicker of recognition welled up inside her, but she couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.

"Why are you here?" He asked softly with a tired smile, as if he was trying to sound somewhat normal.

"I…" She started, fighting the tears that suddenly threatened to spill. "Yashiro said you did not come to work today. I was worried since you're never sick, and…" She looked down on her excuses. "I thought that you would probably not get anything decent to eat so I…" She drifted off, not finishing her lie. She had just wanted to see if he was okay, but she had obviously been proved the opposite.

He smiled politely, though it didn't quite reach his eyes that seemed to display conflicting emotions.

"I'm not… so sure that would be a good idea." He finally answered reluctantly. "I'm not in the best shape to-"

"Please." She begged. Her whisper was almost incoherent, but judging from his expression you could think she had screamed at him. He looked at her for a few moments, his mouth slightly hanging open as if to come up with a last rejection, but he closed it again and moved to the side to let her in.

oOoOoOo

"Hello?" A woman's voice answered the phone.

"Good evening, Julie." Takarada's deep, calm voice greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Ah, good evening, Lory. I'm fine now that he's fine, though he's asleep for the moment." The ex-model explained with a tired but seemingly relieved tone.

"I see, I'm glad to hear that." The relief was evident in his voice.

"Yes, yes, very lovely, now tell me about my son." Julie wasn't in the mood for any friendly chit-chats. Her night had just been a long, terrifying nightmare. Not only had she been close to lose her husband; she knew for a fact that her son would take this harder than anyone. And she wasn't even _there_ for him. There was simply no way she would let this man have a chance to change the subject into something meaningless, like how her husband was feeling, and waste time.

"Straight to the point as always." He chuckled. "It's fascinating how you can see right through me, even though there's a huge globe in the way of your sight."

"How's my son doing?" She pressed, not trusting the other man's easy-going attitude. She wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to know that now.

Lory sighed. It didn't matter what he tried to do to calm her down, it only seemed to have the opposite effect. _Mothers…_He thought to himself.

"Alright, to be quite honest, I'm not really sure. No, that's a lie; I haven't the faintest idea. He didn't react much when I called him last night, not even when I told him Kuu was fine did he give any signs of relief. He only responded with a toneless 'I see' and hung up. But what worried me the most is the fact that he didn't show up for work today. Or at least that's what I thought at first-"

Julie gasped and cut him off. "It's that bad? Can't you do anything about it? Can we do something about it?" She paused slightly. "Can I come? No, that's not a question, I'm going."

"I don't think that's a very good idea," Lory answered quickly before she got the chance to hang up. "If you'd let me continue you'd heard med say that you don't really have a reason to worry that much."

"How can you possibly say such an awful thing?" She snapped. "It's my _son_ we're talking about. Who knows what kind of horrible depression he's going through in the moment as we speak? What if-"

"Kyoko's there."

"Oh."

Julie had heard of this girl several times. Not only from her husband, but by this man as well. About how she seemed to bring her son back to life and help him through tough times, and of course about the unconditional affection Kuon gave her in return. So even though she had never met the girl, she loved her with all her heart.

"Yes. The true reason for this call is to reassure you he's going to be just fine."

OoOoO

She turned on the water over the sink to wash the vegetables but her thoughts were elsewhere, in the living room behind her to be precise.

As soon as she had stepped into his apartment she'd walked directly to the kitchen, telling him to watch the TV or something while she cooked. But he said he'd rather just take it easy with a glass of water while he waited for her on the sofa.

And that's exactly what he did… but he didn't look very relaxed.

Kyoko didn't like any of this. It was too incomprehensible and frustrating.

He had been bad before, but this took the prize. Yes, he was able to speak and move… now. She had no idea how it must have been before she got there. It was a miracle he'd opened the door.

Yes, something very bad had happened, but she couldn't for the world figure out what it could be.

At first she thought it might have had to do something about the accident, but that would be ridiculous. Ren didn't have any connections to that man other than Dark Moon.

… Right?

Kyoko let out a shaky sigh. Two great actors, no, two great friends in distress in less than twenty-four hours was more than Kyoko could possibly handle. What should she do?

She thought about it, as if she hadn't done that already.

At first she had naively assumed that it would just help if she held him company, like all the other times. But when there seemed to be no change in his behavior from the moment he opened the door and the second she stepped into the kitchen, she was at a loss.

Maybe she could be to no help after all and in fact… never was? Just a coincidence that he recovered the way he did?

This thought gave her annoying feelings of sadness and hurt, making her cut the ingredients a bit more roughly than she had to.

At the same time, every time something like this happened he seemed to have recovered as soon as she was there, and not because of anything else. Perhaps this was different or just so much worse that she couldn't be to any help?

Or maybe she did it the wrong way?

If that in fact was the case, then what was the right thing to do? What was the connection between the incidents that made him return to this world?

She thought about this for a while and suddenly it clicked. She stopped in the middle of her cooking, dried her hands and turned around with confident strides.

Ren stared at the black screen in front of him, not even seeing it. The only thing on his mind was the image of his father's face... memories of his smiles, laughs and tears.

Those images turned into a morphed picture of the famous actor lying in a pool of blood in his wife's arms, Kuon's mother's arms, while she screamed at him. Calling him a murderer.

These scenes had been repeating themselves in his head all day and all night and no matter what he did, the ghosts of his pasts and the fears of the present never seemed to leave his mind. He could never get a rest or concentrate on anything real.

He'd completely forgotten about work, worse yet, he didn't even care. He didn't even guess or hope that Lory would inform Yashiro he was incapable to work.

Other than the incident the previous night with the President in question, he had completely ignored his phone even though it had ringed several times that day. He just couldn't bear talking to anyone, especially not her, without completely breaking down into pieces.

So when she showed up on his doorstep, after refusing to leave when he didn't open the door, he had been filled with mixed feelings.

Just seeing her made him remember that his dad was actually alright and was not going to die, and her voice made him believe that his mother did not hate him. But he was still so deep down in the cold darkness that it didn't seem to be enough.

When she told him she had been worried and wanted to make sure he was alright by cooking for him he had fought the urge to not just grab her in his arms and let go of all his pains.

This was the reason he'd tried to make her go away. He didn't want to scare her or bother her with his indescribable pain. Not this time; it was way too much for even her to bear. She'd helped him so much already that this felt like too much to ask for.

But when she had pleaded with him like that and given him the look of complete desperation he had no choice but to let her in.

He took a deep breath and decided to try and concentrate on the sound of her working in the kitchen.

But to his surprise there was no sound to be heard.

His heart stopped dead in his chest. Did she get so scared by his behavior she ran off while he wasn't paying attention? She had always been too good at seeing right through him, and now he had barely even managed to keep himself on his feet.

The pain that had grown duller as soon as she entered his home started to quickly go back to its original hateful state.

Then, without a warning, two small arms reached around his neck and pulled him close into a warm embrace, instantly melting some of the cold ice inside of him.

Kyoko held his head in the crook of her neck, holding the frozen man close, while standing on her knees because of his ridiculous height.

After a few seconds he finally seemed to have somewhat recovered from his shock and realized what had happened. At first he hesitated because he didn't know what to do, but when she gave him a small squeeze in reassurance he completely lost it. He simply couldn't do anything but to accept the comfort she was so unexpectedly offering and hold on to her as if his life was depending on it.

He followed her down as she lowered herself into a sitting position so she could more easily handle his weight. She kept her right arm around his shoulder while her left hand stroked his hair, not saying a word, just giving him all the comfort she could possibly offer.

If this was what he needed, then she wasn't going to back down for all the money and fortune in the world. No matter how out of place she felt.

Then all of a sudden he clutched her shirt on her back, as if it was his only lifeline in a vast sea, and she could swear she felt his shoulders slightly shake. If possible, she hugged him even closer to herself, for that's the only thing you can do when you feel someone's tears fall on your shoulder.

She had never imagined the day when she was going to witness her great friend and teacher cry, but it only proved him to be what he really was; human. The fact is that every human is a fragile being, no matter how much you work out, or how strong-minded you are.

Everyone has their breaking-point, and this just happened to be his. Even though she did not know the reason for it, or why now.

Another important thing you have to remember is that every person needs someone they can trust, someone they can relax and let go off themselves with. Ever since Rick died, Ren had never had a person like that. But ever since Kyoko reappeared in his life she had been his beacon of light and the only reassurance to be found. So when she gave him the support he had needed for such a long time, how could he possibly not let everything out?

Kyoko did however not know about the latter part. She just knew he was in need of help.

When she had thought about all the times she'd reached out to him before, she's realized the connection between the occurrences. Touching his arm, holding his hand, or walking into his arms… it always involved some kind of physical contact.

Sometimes it was enough if she spoke to him, but it was never as effective as this.

When she hugged him she hadn't even worried about the outcome; as long as he was brought out of his misery, even just a little, it was all that mattered.

So she stayed, holding a firm grip around him, patiently waiting for him to come back in his own pace, allowing him to draw all the strength he needed from her. His shoulders did stop shaking after a while, but that didn't mean he was ready to let go of her just yet. He neither had the want, nor the strength to do so.

Several minutes passed in that way as they held, as you could call it, a silent conversation. She was leaning her head on his shoulder, gently caressing his hair and neck in comfort, while he softly moved his fingers up and down her spine, thanking her.

"Thank you…" He finally whispered. "You have no idea how much I needed that."

Kyoko smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see it, because she was just so realived to hear the life in his voice again.

He was okay.

"I had a hunch." She chuckled and he did the same.

The truth was the following;

When she'd hugged him, it was as if all the pain he'd ever felt passed through him before disappearing into nothing. Memories of the past and the present swirled around like an incomprehensible mess, at the same time as he could distinguish every single one of them from each other.

He had had no idea he had been trying to repress so much from himself, and he could never have guessed that the huge burden they had put on him would lighten by just a simple, voluntary hug from his love.

It also made him remember something he had been sure would be lost forever.

"You remember that day when I completely broke down? And do you remember what I told you?"

How could she forget?

"Yes?" He couldn't see it, but he heard her confusion and slight hesitation in her voice.

"Well, I didn't. Not until now, that is."

Suddenly she was very happy he didn't see her face. She did not want him to see the blush that was slowly creeping onto her face. She had suspected this, but now that she knew for sure, it was incredibly embarrassing. What he had said that day had been very… life changing.

"I… told you quite a lot, didn't I?" He closed his eyes as he remembered the words that had been pouring out uncontrollably that day. About how scared he was of the things he'd done in the past, about feelings from his former life and the ghosts that kept on haunting him. "About… how very frightened I was."

Kyoko felt how his breathing became slightly shakier. This was obviously hard for him to talk about. "And that I was afraid that you, the only person I've met here that really means something to me, would run away in fear."

He was glad that he was holding her, that _she_ was still holding _him_, because he wasn't sure he would be able to go through with it otherwise. Neither did she. Her face was redder than a tomato at the memory of the last part.

"All I want to say is… that I meant every single word. You've already realized that you're important to me, and I'm just happy that you haven't left already because of my actions. The way you see through me would make anyone go-"

Kyoko suddenly leaned back to look up in his eyes. She looked almost angry.

"Stop right there." She demanded. "Stop talking as if you're telling me it's okay for me to freak out and go away at any given moment because you claim you're dangerous." Like he'd said, it was almost scary how easily she saw right through him. "I'm not going to do that."

He didn't know if he should laugh or be shocked. Everything was so upside down now and he wasn't even sure the same girl from just a few months ago was sitting in front of him right now. The one from before would have looked like a frightened deer in the headlight, while this one stared at him with determination that would be enough to convince people that pigs could fly.

"I've already told you. You're _not _the monster you think you are. Yes, I'm sure bad things have happened to you in the past and that you've done some horrible mistakes. But if you were a true monster, you would be shot down like that horrible character you played, not sitting here and drown in despair."

She shook her head and sighed.

"You know whenever you smile that fake, polite smile to anyone you're angry with, or just someone in general ? Or when you behave weird-friendly and overly polite to others, or when you do any other typical Tsuruga Ren-behavior? You know that I never buy any of that."

"I… think? " He smiled vaguely, slightly cautious. This one was hard to respond to. "It feels like I'm stepping on my own pride here, but you _do_ usually respond in unusual ways to… some things that I generally do."

"And do you know _why_ I react this way? It's because I don't _know_that person." He just blinked. "I don't know Tsuruga Ren. Every time he appears I feel disorientated and naturally alarmed, because that's not the person I've learned to know."

Her eyes softened and her lips gently turned into her most caring smile.

"Rather than the perfect gentleman with perfect behavior and without any flaws, I got to know the man that's kind, teasing, childish, fun and a forever trustworthy friend that never hesitates to reach out a hand in need of comfort.

I've always known that you've behaved differently with me compared to others. In the beginning, after you'd stopped being mad at me (which is also a proof of someone else than Tsuruga), I was a firm believer that this was you behind the cameras. But then I noticed that the way you were with other people was the same as the TV-persona, and completely different to the man in front of me right now."

She paused and looked down, frowning just a little.

"I don't know why, and it took a complete breakdown on your part for me to realize it and for that I apologize, but for some reason I've become someone you can trust. It feels so weird to say things like that, because I'm not the kind of person that manages to do such things, but all I know and is certain of is that I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving my friends that are in need. I can't be that selfish.

I don't even know the particular reason as to why you suffer this way, but I don't care as long as I can help you be alright."

Ren thought his heart couldn't possibly beat any faster. He couldn't believe he was awake, it had to be something his mind made up to cope with the building madness. These wonderful words and promises that she saw past his horrendous mistakes, that she could see him, that she could see something that wasn't _bad_. It was more than he could ever have asked for from anyone.

"So when…" He just needed this last confirmation and looked intensely into her eyes "When you say you're not running away, that is the truth?" He felt ridiculous and almost like a child asking for this.

She smiled broadly, clearly thinking the same thing.

"I'm not going anywhere." She reassured with a nod and was rewarded with an equally joyful smile.

Suddenly her phone rang and surprised both actors. She quickly removed her hands that had currently rested on Ren's chest and fished the device out of her pocket. She checked the name on the screen quickly before picking up.

"Good evening, Mr. President." She answered her phone and gave Ren a meaning look. "Yes, I'm here, but how did you… no wait, don't answer that… A little more than an hour ago, I think, why?" She furrowed her brow as she listened to the President's questions.

"Um, I don't know if I can tell you…" She turned the answer into a question that was directed to Ren. He nodded and she slightly hesitated before answering. "Well, he was quite down when I arrived, but then some things happened…" She started to blush.

She suddenly stiffened as she heard the next question.

"Things happened." She replied stiffly, not willing to admit any details. "If it helped? Well,"

She felt one of Ren's hands still rest on her waist while the other played with her hair as she spoke, a small smile playing on his lips.

"I think… he's going to be alright." She finally spoke and returned his smile.

**A/N: I guess a lot of you were expecting Kyoko to have this major breakdown? Nope, think again. ;)**

Loooong chapter, I know. But it was needed. And wow, only a few days apart, you didn't have to wait long at all! I'm sorry if there are too many mistakes in this text. Being tired and not having English as my first language is not always the best combination, but I hope you can live with it!

Thanks again for all of your support! I love the guessing game that's going on in the comments. I love to see how everyone reason with the gift-giver; it makes me feel more accomplished as the author.

**Now it will probably take a while until I can put up the next chapter; I'm going to be quite busy, so I felt it was my responsibility to put this up. So until next time, cheers! /RDC**


	8. Seventh day of Christmas

**12 days of building trust**

**Amazing, I still don't own Skip Beat! Who would have thought?**

"_I think he's going to be alright." She finally spoke and returned his smile._

**Seventh day of Christmas**

OoOoO

"Onee-sama!" Maria squealed and threw herself on Kyoko as soon as the older girl stepped through the doors of the ridiculously huge mansion. "You're finally here! I've been waiting all day!"

Kyoko laughed and hugged the small girl.

"You know I'm not actually supposed to be here until fifteen minutes from now?"

"According to me you should have been here yesterday. Come on, let's get started already!" Maria grabbed Kyoko's hand and started to drag her towards the kitchen before she even got to greet the girl's Grandfather properly. The man in question just gave her a calculative look with a matching, though weirdly suspicious, smile.

The kitchen was really something to behold. White tile covered the floor, impeccably clean and shiny and all the working surfaces were made out of stainless steel, so polished you could practically use them as mirrors.

All the kitchen cabinets were black with silver handles and matched the very expensive-looking oven, fridge and freezer.

"Are you really sure it's okay to use this?" Kyoko hissed. This kitchen didn't look like it was made for ordinary humans to use.

"Of course! Where else should we be?" Somewhere normal? Kyoko thought in terror. She was scared to death she would break something if she touched it.

"Uh, if you're really sure…" She reluctantly agreed with a shaky voice and took a wary step into the lavish room, imagining how the floor cracked into thousands of pieces as she walked upon it.

"What are we going to make today?" The smaller girl asked excitedly, completely unfazed by the room and absolutely oblivious to her pseudo sister's fear.

Kyoko took a deep breath and tried to imagine her being back in the kitchen of the Darumaya. It worked, as long as she avoided the fact that she could see herself in the sink.

"I thought we should start off by doing something simple, like baking. So I decided we should make some Kasutera and then shape them into cute forms." Concentrating on making the small girl's birthday present as fun as possible also helped her relax in the kitchen. "At first I thought about making something traditional for New Years, since it's today, but I think that would be too complicated to start with."

"Oh, but I love Kasutera!" Maria clapped her hands excitedly.

"I figured." Kyoko chuckled and they got to work. She showed the girl the ingredients, the right measurements to use and how much of each ingredient to use, and Maria loved every second of it. She especially liked to crack the eggs even though they had to pick up several pieces of the shells out of the paste, which has a tendency to happen when you're inexperienced.

When everything was done they put the form into the oven, sat down on the floor beside it and waited.

"So, do you have any plans for tonight?" Kyoko asked as she stretched her arms and smiled as she saw Maria's eyes lit up.

"Yes, actually, Grandpa has a small party planned for me, dad (Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! Dad's coming tonight as well) and some of his friends." Kyoko imagined how "small" this party was going to be, considering that the Grateful-party was supposed to be small from the start. "For once we're actually going to be traditional, contrary to grandfather's New York-party last year. It's going to be so much fun!"

Kyoko could swear she saw sparkles fly around the girl as she told her about her upcoming night, and she wasn't sure whether she had got that from her or her grandfather. It was hard to say. Though she guessed it was blood related when she started to gush over the kimono she was going to wear and how she was going to make sure _everyone_ stays with the theme.__

An amused smile crept over Kyoko's face. She could all too well imagine the girl when she was older, riding on horses to school or wear a mermaid costume while swimming in the ocean.

The ocean. Why did that remind her of something?

"Oh, speaking of which! I can't believe I haven't been able to ask you, but whenever I thought about contacting you, important things to do have seemed to show up mysteriously, as if there was some sort of force trying to keep me from asking. But I can break any curse. Nee-chan, would you like to come tonight? Please, please, pretty please do come? I know it's a late invitation, but I know no one would mind! You can even borrow a kimono from us, a really fancy one at that!"

Kyoko's smile faltered a little. She felt bad about having to disappoint the girl, but the reason for it made her cheeks warm up in embarrassment. She frowned upon her own reaction.

"I'm sorry, Maria-chan, but… unfortunately I have other plans for tonight."

"Oh." Disappointment instantly filled the small girl's voice. "I see… but yeah… it's my own fault for inviting you so late. But I have to say… that's odd." She suddenly stated in bafflement.

"What is?"

"I just called Ren-sama this morning and he told me the _exact _same thing. And that's really weird, because he has never any plans for any of his free nights." A bitter expression suddenly crossed the small girl's face, and Kyoko just found the fact sad in itself. "Don't tell me…"

"Don't tell you what?"

"Don't tell me you've both grown tired of me and don't want to be around me anymore." She finally muttered and ominously drew small circles on the floor.

Kyoko's eyes widened in horror.

"No! Absolutely not!" Kyoko denied. "We both like you very much! Don't think like that. It's just that that I've already made plans with… a friend… and perhaps it's the same thing for Tsuruga-san. I would have loved to come here, I just can't."

Maria peeked up with a small pout.

"But Ren-sama doesn't have any friends."

Again; sad. At the same time she thought that it wasn't entirely true.

"No, now you're being too harsh on him! Maybe he was just invited to a party or something. I don't know." Maria looked unconvinced. Kyoko was just amazed she didn't put two and two together. "Stop looking at me like that! None of us are tired of you. We would never abandon you."

"You promise you'll never leave me?"

"I'm not going anywhere." This made memories from the former day flood her brain and she felt the urge to roll around on the floor in shame and embarrassment. Her thoughts were however interrupted by the smaller girl as she suddenly laughed, the sulking completely gone from her face.

"What are your plans for tonight then?"

Kyoko was just about to answer the question, but realized, she couldn't.

"I'm… actually not quite sure. H-, um, my friend made all the plans and hasn't told me anything yet. It's apparently a surprise." She avoided telling her about him. She knew it would hurt the small girl's feelings if she learned Kyoko was going to spend New Year's together with Ren when Maria couldn't.

"I see… sounds like fun." Maria answered as they fell into a somewhat thoughtful silence.

As soon as they both quieted down, the memories from last night took their chance to rage in Kyoko's mind.

As soon as they had finished their dinner and talked for a while, Ren had persisted on giving her a ride home, considering it was 11:30pm and "The least I can do for everything you've done for me this evening". Giving her no choice but to comply. Again.

"You know…" He said when they had arrived at the restaurant. "I really don't know how to thank you for everything you've done for me. For tonight and for all the other times you've saved me like this."

He frowned, looking down on the steering wheel with slight frustration as he thought.

"Oh, you really don't need to." Kyoko shook her head vigorously, feeling flustered and laughed slightly. "This is really the least I could possibly do for you. You've done so much for me already!"

Ren shook his head.

"You don't understand. You've helped me more than anyone's ever been able to. You're the first one to see through me, except…" A slightly grim smile took hold on his face. "But he doesn't quite count." She had a pretty good guess.

She sighed and looked straight forward, out to the dark streets in front of the car, a small blush spreading on her face as she prepared herself for her next words.

"You really don't have to." She whispered softly. "If you're fine then that's all I need. All I _want_ is you to be fine."

She suddenly felt how a large hand gently grabbed her chin and turned her face to meet his deep, glistening sea-colored eyes. She'd completely forgotten about them.

"And that's exactly why I need to do something for you." She was rendered speechless. All her words got caught in her throat as those eyes stared right into her very soul, feeling like there was a hidden message she didn't understand or get.

She wasn't sure she wanted to either.

Then he must have realized something, because it looked as if a light of understanding appeared behind those bright eyes. Though worry seemed to be a shadow beside it.

"It's worth a try…" She heard him mumble before releasing her chin and spoke more clearly. "You should probably go inside before Taicho-san comes running out with a butcher knife to claim my life for keeping you out so late."

Kyoko laughed, relieved that the intense atmosphere had been toned down.

"I don't think he would do that." She reassured with a shake of her head.

"Oh, don't be so sure about that." He chuckled in amusement and rubbed his throat as if someone was about to strangle him. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Kyoko blinked as she stepped out of the car.

"I will?"

"You will. Be sure to be ready around nine tomorrow night." And with that, he left.

Really. The nerve of that man; driving off before giving her a chance to decline or even consider it. What if the rest of Japan knew about this?

Now that she thought about it, it would probably just increase his popularity. Though she knew that wouldn't happen, not as long as he stayed as Tsuruga Ren.

This led to another problem. If that wasn't Tsuruga Ren, then who was he?

"Nee-san!" Maria shouted. "I've been calling your name at least three times already, are you awake?" The small girl touched Kyoko's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever… are you alright?"

"Ah, sorry, Maria-chan. I just got lost in thought." Kyoko apologized, snapping out of her daze.

"I kind of noticed." Maria snorted.

"Was there anything you wanted to say?" She laughed.

"Yes… your earrings, they're really pretty…" She leaned closer just so she could have a better look at them. "I'd like a pair like those as well if I could find them."

"Oh, yes, thanks. I got them just yesterday." She touched the small, silver snowflake that was decorating her earlobe. In fact, she hadn't planned on wearing them, just like any other of her gifts, she had just forgotten to take them off after accidently trying this particular pair.

For the sixth day she'd got three pairs of earrings, the snowflake ones, a pair of small, red maple leafs and a pair of small cherry blossoms hanging from the hook like they would from a tree.

One pair for each season, except summer, the motivation being:

_Snowflakes, leafs and blossoms, though no bird that can fly,_

_That's because you are the swallow in the bright summer sky._

She had to admit it was a rather sweet poem, but it just made her wonder so much more who it could possibly be that gave her all of this stuff.

"Um, Nee-chan… when are we supposed to take this out?" Maria pointed at the oven, waking Kyoko up from her daydreams for the second time this day.

They quickly got the Kasutera out of the oven. When it cooled down they spent the next hour using metallic forms in shapes of fruits and animals to make all of the small Japanese sponge cakes to look different. Then to make the cakes complete, they put frosting and marzipan in different colors to make them look as much as the motive as possible.

"Aw, mine doesn't even look half as good as yours…" Maria complained sadly as she compared their creations.

"Don't worry. They are really pretty for being your first time." Kyoko reassured. "With just a little practice I'm sure you'll be able to make them better than me."

"I doubt it." Maria pouted slightly, though with a smile playing on the edges of her lips, her mood evidently lightened by Kyoko's words.

After spending some more time together with the small girl, eating a few of their cakes and talking about the New Year, Kyoko looked at the time and decided it was time to bid her good byes.

Maria had been sad to see Kyoko leave, at the same time as she was excited about the upcoming evening. They had already spotted a few rockets being fired off by impatient people who couldn't wait which only increased the small girl's excitement.

Kyoko on the other hand just started to feel more and more nervous by each passing minute, and the "Have fun tonight!" together with a sly grin from the President didn't exactly help the growing tension in her shoulders.

At least she left content of how she handled the situation with Maria, but she should have known that the girl was smarter than that. Of course she had put two and two together, and for some reason… she didn't even mind it.

When Kyoko got home around seven that night she spotted her next gift on the table. She wasn't even surprised anymore since she practically expected to find something lying on her table as soon as she stepped into her room.

Fifteen minutes later after taking a shower she read the rhyme that said:

_Seven colors that I know will bring you bliss,_

_Though I think you're most beautiful without any of this._

She wasn't sure how to react to any of this, but as soon as she opened the square, thin package everything fell into place. It was definitely a compliment.

It was eye shadows in seven different colors, all with matching shades so she could blend them on her eyelids in different ways.

She checked the colors and sure enough: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. All the colors of the rainbow collected in one make-up set.

This fact just made it so much more awesome and so much harder to resist.

However, the makeup made her remember something else: she had to get ready. Unless he would have, for some reason, lied to her yesterday he would to be there in just about one and a half hour and she had no clue what to wear and for what she was going to wear it.

After a call with Kanae, that ended up with the dark haired girl being mad, Kanae just told her to wear whatever she wanted and hung up.

Usually she would just put something on she wore casually since she was comfortable looking like she usually did with him. But the unnerving fact that it was New Year's Eve and _the _Tsuruga Ren (or whoever he was) was going to take her somewhere made her highly suspicious of the whereabouts of their destination.

"Calm down!" She told herself. "It's probably nothing out of the ordinary. He would have told you otherwise. Besides, he wouldn't…"

An image of a super fancy restaurant popped up in her head and she groaned, the "what if" shone like a neon sign in her head. She had absolutely nothing to wear if the "what if" proved to be right.

Or did she?

She slowly turned to look behind her but quickly shook her head as she realized where her thoughts were heading. No. She couldn't use it, not a chance.

An image of her looking completely like her plain-looking self in a room full of supermodels entered her mind. In the matter of a hundredth of a second she sprinted to snatch the black lace dress out of its peaceful place in her wardrobe and put it, together with the clips, ring, and shoes on.

To sum it up: in a matter of seconds she'd completely broken her own rule of not using any of her gifts.

OoOoO

When Ren stepped into the closed Darumaya at nine o'clock, the Okami of the restaurant went to inform the girl he was there to collect that he had arrived.

As soon as the woman was out of sight he heard a very ominous, though not unexpected, sound coming from his right; the sound of a knife being sharpened.

When he turned his head to where the sound was coming from he was met by the Taicho's sharp gaze as he held a very sturdy knife in his hand. Ren wasn't so sure his boss was on the top of his list of "most scary men" anymore.

Ren nodded, greeting the older man. The Taicho nodded back with a grunt, but continued to sharpen his knife as he returned back to the kitchen, his mission complete.

_The message has been received. _Ren let a small sigh out in relief and slight disbelief. He didn't know whether he should be glad Kyoko stayed under his roof or if he should be scared for his life.

"Tsuruga-san! Sorry I've kept you waiting." He should definitely be scared for his life. That dress was enough to make Ren want to run out of the restaurant before he did something that would certainly get him killed. Did the lace on her arms and upper chest really have to be see-through?

Though he had to admit he only had himself to blame. He was the one who wasn't kind enough to tell her any details the former day.

She wore a pair of shoes he recognized from the other day, rosy pink and high heeled, though not so high your feet would die after only ten minutes of walking. Not that Ren would know anything about that.

She wore some very light make-up; light eye shadow with some red hinting on the edges, matching the shoes and it also looked like she had decided to put some shine to her already naturally pink lips.

If it wouldn't have been for the fact that Ren had to put his entire concentration into learning how to speak again, he would have been impressed by her sense of details and creativity.

"You look absolutely stunning." He finally complimented with a soft smile. Not that he didn't think she did otherwise, he just loved how she glowed whenever _she_ felt somewhat pretty about herself. He just wished she would think like that about herself more often.

Even if that would mean the end of him.

She stopped dead, stared at him with red touching her cheeks and stuttered a silent thank you, making him laugh slightly.

"Well," He reached out his arm. "Shall we?"

Still completely red in her face she grabbed her jacket and was just about to take his arm when she suddenly froze into place yet again, staring at something to her right this time.

Ren furrowed his eyebrows and tried to turn to see what she was looking at but she quickly recovered. She slid her arm through his with an easy-going smile, blowing all of his worries away, telling them they should leave.

As soon as they stepped into the car she found she couldn't bear his confidentiality any longer.

"Where are we going?" She asked, not even trying to hide her curiosity.

"You'll see…" He answered with a smirk.

"Alright." She said, slightly dragging out on the word. Her train of thought was however interrupted when she noticed something strange about the car. Maybe it was her empty stomach that was talking? He wouldn't bring…

"If you think you smell food you're absolutely correct. Since all the restaurants are closed today I went by the President's house to pick something up for us to eat."

So they were not going out somewhere. Even though it was a relief, she silently cursed herself for using all those gifts. Now that they were used, she couldn't return them. Damn it.

"Oh, you thought about food for once?" She teased.

"Well, I can't let you starve, can I?" He retorted playfully, making her laugh. But did he just say…?

"How long has the President been informed about, uh… this?" She didn't really know what to call it.

"I called him yesterday night about it, why?"

"Hm, no, nothing special. It just explains something that happened earlier this day when I went to visit Maria."

"Oh, that's right, her birthday gift." He nodded then asked rather suspiciously. "What did he do?"

"Well," Kyoko started, a bit unsure how to explain. "The President told me to 'have fun tonight." She mimicked the man's voice at the time. "I just got the feeling he _knew _something I didn't."

__Ren suppressed a frustrated grunt. He could never be subtle, could he.

"I really don't think we have to worry about anything, but I suppose we have to keep our eyes open just in case." He half joked.

"That's sounds like a good plan to me." She agreed, also only half-jokingly. "Wait, weren't you supposed to make a right turn there?" She looked at the unfamiliar road they were currently driving on.

"Nope. We're not going to my apartment."

She narrowed her eyes at his smile. The competition was on. 

After forty minutes of still not figuring anything out, she gave up. Instead she watched as they were getting to the outskirts of the city and going up several hills until he finally stopped the car outside a small cabin.

The snow that had fallen over Tokyo just a few days ago had pretty much disappeared from the trampled streets of the big city, but was resting untouched upon this particular hill and its trees.

The view from there was amazing. You could see the entire city with all of its light and activities but you didn't hear the constant noise. It was absolutely breathtaking.

"Wow, it's beautiful…" She sighed as soon as she stepped out of the car. "I didn't know this kind of place even existed so close to the city."

"Me neither. Not until the President told me about it at least."

"You've borrowed this place from him?"

"Yes."

"… Just because of me?" She looked at him disbelievingly with a small frown. Why were people constantly _persisting_ on doing things for her that she couldn't return in a million years?

"I don't think you're a 'just because', but yes, that's true." He laughed and shook his head. "How about we go inside before you get too cold, I bet it can't be too warm in just that?" He glanced at her thin tights, but instead of feeling cold, she felt how she instantly heated up.

"Yes… right." She agreed after a second of hesitation and followed him inside the cabin.

It didn't look like any Japanese house she'd ever been into in her entire life. It looked more like one of those winter cabins she'd seen in American movies. Those with wooden walls, plushy couches and a western looking fireplace.

"I see you've been here before you picked me up." She said as she looked at the fire. "Isn't it a bit dangerous to leave an open fire like this alone?"

"Actually," He placed the bags with food on the table in front of the large sofa. "I had planned on putting the fire on when we got here. I suppose we could see this as a warning that _he's_ one step ahead of us." Still only half-jokingly.

"And I suppose we're supposed to trust this note?" She picked up a small piece of paper from the table and Ren walked over to read it as well.

It said:

_Dearest children,_

_I took the liberty to send Sebastian out to put some fire into the fireplace and if you check the kitchen you'll find everything you need for some hot beverages and some snacks._

_I won't be bothering you anymore tonight, so enjoy your evening and a happy New Year to both of you._

They stared at the note for a few moments.

"Should we be worried about security cams, or something?" Kyoko asked with a nervous laugh.

"I wouldn't think so…" He answered rather hesitantly, not sure whether he believed himself or not.

After a few suspicious glances around the small house they simply decided to believe the President hadn't been lying, just to keep their sanity, and settled down to eat.

"Oh, I love Osechi!" Kyoko exclaimed as she looked at all the different dishes put in their individual case.

"Yes… But I have to admit it was a while since I last ate it." She noticed a sad look flash across his face as he looked down on the food and she thought it was best not to ask.

After finishing their dinner Kyoko went to the kitchen to get some cocoa and instead of sitting on the couch again, they decided to pull some blankets and pillows closer to the warm fire.

"You know… If I knew we were only coming up here I wouldn't have had to dress up this much." She joked with pretended irritation.

"I know," He chuckled. "I should have been clearer. I just wanted to surprise you."

"It's fine. Instead of underdressed I feel completely overdressed." She glanced at him. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a simple black button up shirt and still looked like he could step onto the runway at any given second. "Or maybe not…" She muttered to herself.

"What did you say?"

"No, nothing." She smiled and took a sip from her cup.

He looked at her with a seemingly considering smile.

"What?" She asked suspiciously. Was there chocolate all over her face or something?

"No, nothing. It's just that I'm imagining what would happen if I tried to pull this stunt off a few months ago. I'm pretty sure you would be crying in a corner by now."

She blushed.

"I would not! I would have gladly accepted the offer to-"

"Yes, but you would not have complied this easily. And when you finally did you would have seen it as an obligation to your sempai rather than your friend." This darkened the shades of red in her face.

"Yes, but… things change!" She finally stated, realizing how true that statement was. "But how about you? You wouldn't have wanted to-"

"Yes, I would have."

She shut her mouth and refused to meet his gaze as she tried to fight all the feelings that were swirling around like a tornado. This made her both happy and sad at the same time, but she couldn't tell him how much she'd valued him even back then, no matter how close they were right now.

She didn't want to disturb the already unstable storm within her.

"But I have to admit I'm flattered you feel comfortable enough around me to not dress up like that every day. Most people have a tendency to put on ball gowns around me."

Kyoko snorted.

"I've been walking around in the most awful jumpsuit you can find on this planet, anything else that I wear will look like it comes straight out from Dior in comparison."

"You look good in anything." The fire was indeed a very interesting thing to observe. Oh, just look at that; a log broke into two pieces. How fascinating.

Ignoring the heavy thumping in her chest she finally decided to risk glancing at the actor beside her. He wasn't looking at her anymore.

Instead, he was looking at the fire like she'd done just a moment ago, like he was trying to figure something out. Thanks to this she could see his entire face being lit up by the bright flames and she noticed something.

He was wearing contacts today.

"Do you feel comfortable around me?" It just slipped right out of her mouth and she regretted it as soon as it did. Because suddenly he looked at her with an expression that…

"You know… this is what I'd like to talk about. Yesterday I-"

"Oh my gosh! What's the time?" She abruptly cut him off, threw the blanket off of her shoulders and grabbed her purse to check her phone. "It's only seven minutes left to midnight, we got to get out. Now!"

That certainly threw him off. What he did not know was that she'd done it on purpose.

_Not now._ She tried to repress the memory, feeling bad with herself for stopping him from telling her something very important. Her heart had nearly exploded when she saw the look of absolute trust on his face. She couldn't bear it.

When they had put their jackets and shoes on they went out on the small, snow filled lawn. The city lights had been completely turned off so you could see nothing but stars and the bright moon on the sky above. The light was just enough to see the trees and snow around them, as well as where they stepped.

"Wow… this is going to be so amazing…" She stared in awe at the scenery. "What are you doing?"

"Getting something from the car." He stated with a laugh at his obvious action.

"Yes, I can see that, but what- oh." He pulled a small rocket out from the backseat and went to place it in a pile of snow at the edge of the hill.

"How much time's left?"

"Three minutes."

"Alright, I'll be right back."

"Okay…?" She watched as he quickly walked into the house, but he was soon back. "What did you do?"

"You'll see." He gave her a secretive smile.

Suddenly the sky over the city exploded in colors and they realized they had missed the clock turning twelve. Ren lit the rocket and walked over to stand by Kyoko. When it exploded in bright, red flames above them, he gently took her hand, giving him her full attention.

"Happy New Year." He murmured and she gasped.

Unlike a few moments ago when it was too dark to properly see all the colors and shapes around her, the thousands of lights from the city allowed her to see every sea colored shade of his glistening eyes.

"There you are." She whispered back with a broad smile, throwing all insecurities and fears out

the window, or rather, down the hill and greeted the man that made her every day into chaos. The man that tortured her mind and her promise to herself, the man who'd become a dear friend and the man that gave her the affection she knew she could never return. "Happy New Year."

**A/N: Surprise! You didn't have to wait as long as I thought you would. Though it's a long chapter yet again, but that's the only way I can do it since I have to put an entire day in one chapter and can't divide it. I can put small memories like I did in this, but not too long events like the last part, since I want to keep all days and chapters to themselves how to say.**

**… I just hope you stayed through it all. ^^"  
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**And no, I have no idea if any similar place to the cabin actually does exist, but I decided that it did for my own sake. ;)**

**Again! Thanks for all the support! I love to see my inbox bombed with feedback, it makes me so happy to see you're enjoying my story! Hope you have a great time wherever you are, and until next time! Cheers! /RDC **


	9. Eighth day of Christmas

**12 days of Building Trust**

I don't own anything related to Skip Beat! Everything belongs to the wonderful mangaka Yoshiki Nakamura… Look! I did it properly this time!

"_There you are." She whispered back with a broad smile, throwing all insecurities and fears out __the window, or rather, down the hills, greeting the man that made her every day into chaos. The man that tortured her mind and her promise to herself, the man who'd become a dear friend and the man that gave her the affection she knew she could never return. "Happy New Year."_

**Eighth day of Christmas**

OoOoO

"That was really beautiful…" Kyoko gushed as she watched the city lights turn on again as they drove down the hill. They had decided to leave shortly after seeing the colorful explosions lightening up the sky; that was after all the reason he'd taken her up there in the first place.

Right?

"Indeed…" Ren agreed, though his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.

Kyoko's old, usual self would have asked her self why on earth he seemed so deep in thought, that she couldn't understand for the world why he acted so oddly. But that girl was now gone since long now.

She actually had a pretty good idea what was bothering him. When you thought about it, it really wasn't strange for her to do so either, considering she was the one who brought it on. _She _was the one who had persisted on cutting him off whenever he seemed to have something to say.

I suppose that's at least one of her old traits. As soon as something that threatened her heart neared, all the alarm clocks would go off and make her act on impulse rather than on thought.

However, by now most of those alarm clocks were either broken or out of batteries, because they didn't chime, at least not as loud, at every single one of this man's smiles or tender actions like they used to.

Though there were still a few, persistent ones that hanged on to their dear little mechanical lives inside her heart. They were the ones that prevented her from letting him tell her something she assumed was very important.

Although she already knew dozens of things about him that no one else did, and he about her, she felt that whatever he was about to say would make her world collapse.

But that wasn't even the worst part. She knew exactly what was on his mind.

The thing about this was the following; she had already lost so many fights against herself when it came to this man. Her defense was so sore and beaten up because of her inner turmoil she wasn't sure she could hold herself together anymore.

But the thing that scared her most was the vulnerability this person would offer. A vulnerability she would not know how to handle.

At the same time there was another side of her that was against this type of thinking. This side of her told her that it was a good thing to crush the wall she was desperately trying to hold up, that it was something that would help both of them.

Unfortunately for the scared part, this upbeat side was getting stronger by the minute. Especially since she got to see those ocean-blue eyes for the second time.

So to somewhat sum up these conflicting emotions of hers, I suppose you could say that she loathed the bond they had created, but she wouldn't give it up even if her life depended on it.

She sighed silently and watched how the trees flew by and thinned out as they left the still life of the hills and approached the city.

They hadn't spoken in almost ten minutes by now. The silence wasn't awkward, but it wasn't that comfortable either. It was simply put… heavy.

Ren was the first to break the silence.

"Forgive me for brining up such an uncomfortable subject all of a sudden," Ren suddenly apologized. He sounded hesitant, as if he wasn't exactly sure he should carry on. "I just wondered about something…"

"What is it?" She asked in concern, immediately trying to remember the last time she screwed something up.

He didn't answer immediately and she could clearly see the conflicting emotions flash over his face as if he decided whether he should change the subject or not.

"… I just wonder about your goal, your original goal, and what your attitude towards that is today?"

She stilled, not freeze in horror, mind you, just stilled with an expressionless face. This question should make her filled with anger, make grudges fly around her in frenzy and scream out in fury.

But they didn't.

"Of course I know you're not using acting for that anymore," He quickly added. "I just wonder if you have any other ways of…" He trailed off, but Kyoko understood him perfectly.

What he really asked her was: "How much do you still care about Fuwa Sho?" and she didn't rage. Okay, it made her irritated and brought on hurtful memories, but compared to before it felt… numb. This confused her and she couldn't for the world remember when this happened.

"I…" She tapped a finger against her chin and frowned. "I don't know." Where had all the angry feelings gone to? She shook her head in frustration. It shouldn't be this way, but it stubbornly continued to be like that anyway.

"You don't know?" He asked rather baffled, clearly not expecting this kind of response either.

"No, I don't. Or well… I just haven't really thought about _him _that much lately. And when I do, I don't really care... that much." She remembered how she'd taken the poster of the blonde down from her wall since she just felt it wasn't worthy of a proper place in her room anymore.

She hadn't realized she'd put something else away with it.

"At all?" He pressed, still with surprise in his voice. She just narrowed her eyes.

"You think it's a bad thing?" She asked with slight sarcasm.

"No, not at all, I just wasn't expecting this kind of reaction…" The tone in his voice turned remote once again. This time she really had no clue what he was thinking about.

"What did you expect then?" She had a pretty good guess.

"Something more aggressive?" He smirked, still not letting his eyes leave the road.

"To be perfectly honest with you, I did too." She huffed, crossing her arms in annoyance at her own uncharacteristic behavior.

The only conclusion she could make was that as she got to know Ren better, she started to lose herself just as much. Nothing ever stayed in balance like it should.

"But I like it more this way." He approved. "I guess I can assume nothing of that old ruckus actually _do_ inflict on your acting anymore?"

"Pfft, that was the case almost a year ago." She muttered, feeling slightly offended that he'd secretly had those beliefs for such a long time.

"I know. But it never hurts to be extra sure." He told her with a teasing smile hinting on his lips.

_… Which means you didn't know. _She stated matter-of-factly to herself.

"Why do you ask?" Yes, why _did_ he ask? Suspicion started to unfold itself in her mind. Did he really suspect…

"No, nothing special. Just out of professional curiosity." _Liar!_

If there was anything Kyoko had learned by now, then it was to spot those little lies hidden carefully under the impression of reassurance.

However, she didn't dare to ask anything further. The remaining alarm clocks started to tick ominously at the look of his thoughtful expression, so she decided to drop it for now.

A few more minutes passed in silence as they drove through the suburbs, soon about to reach the chaos of the busy city. Though this suited her just fine as it gave her time to think.

_Really? Nothing at all?_ She tried to find those heated emotions somewhere hidden deep within her heart but they were nowhere to be found. She couldn't believe it, how could she not be angry with him? Just think about two months ago! This was ridiculous! If it hadn't been for him she would…

"Not be here…" Ren suddenly whispered out loud, placing one of his hands over his mouth.

"Not what?" She asked in pure surprise. He wasn't exactly the one to talk out loud. That was her job.

"No, I just realized that…" The crease between his eyebrows deepened.

"What?" He couldn't fully turn to her, since that would be an idiotic thing to do while driving a car, but he allowed himself to give her a quick, thoughtful glance before looking at the road again.

"Let's imagine two different universes." He finally said. "In number one you grew up with Fuwa, like in real life, but never followed him to Tokyo. Instead you decided to stay and become… something, I don't know.

In the second universe, you never even got to know Sho, you were raised somewhere else with perhaps your mother who…" He trailed off for just a second when he sensed the saddening aura beside him. "Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned her."

Ever since he found out that Kyoko was in fact _Kyoko_ had he known about her mother, but she hadn't willingly talked about her. At least not until about two months ago when Sho turned up on the set for _Wake me up_, furious after he'd found out about the two main stars. He'd talked rather aggressively about a lot of things. Her mother was one of them.

When they had finally made him leave the set (or rather; Aiko literally kicked him off the set, gaining Ren's immediate liking) Kyoko was heart-broken. But after all, Ren was a part of the set and of course he was there that day. He was always there when needed… which pretty much solved the entire situation.

"But if you'd had anyone else to stay with, then you would most likely have grown up like any other normal girl, going to school and have friends and all that." He continued.

Kyoko narrowed her eyes and grinded her teeth. Why did he have to say that? Was it to make her feel bad? Of course she knew he wouldn't say that kind of thing to make her sad, but it certainly put salt in her wounds. At least some of her former anger remained.

"To your ears that kind of universe must sound wonderful, _but!_" He added extra pronunciation on the last word. "Tell me in which one of those universes you would be sitting here beside me?"

She opened her mouth, but immediately shut it close again.

She'd never thought about it in that way before. She'd never seen that part of her life as a positive thing. Before she might have thought that the alternate world would have been like a fairytale ending, but now?

No. No matter how she thought about it, nothing seemed better than anything of what she had now. All the people she'd ever met, all the experiences and amazing memories… she would never have had any of that if it wasn't for Sho.

"I don't like this." She grumbled in reply and crossed her arms for the second time this night.

Ren thought his heart would stop dead in his chest. She didn't want this?

"I see…" He didn't even try to hide the hurt.

At first she didn't understand his sudden change of mood, but a second later she understood how her words must have sounded to his ears.

"No! I don't mean it like that!" She quickly protested before he "disappeared" into his actor-persona, in other words, Tsuruga Ren.

She growled at herself for being such a hypocrite. She had been avoiding what he had wanted to say all night, but now she was preventing him from turning away. Couldn't she just decide what she wanted already?

"Then what did you mean?" He asked disbelievingly.

"I don't like this because…" She looked down on her tightly clasped hands and spoke between clenched teeth. "It means I have to thank him."

"Oh." Realization hit him. She didn't like it because she believed she owed him for taking her here and then discharge her so she could have a life of her own.

No, Ren decided, he didn't like that either. It was not the kind of thing she should be thanking him for.

"You don't have to." He stated firmly. "In fact, you shouldn't."

"Why?"

"Because of everything that he's done to you, would a thank you really be in the right place?"

She didn't even have to consider this.

"No."

"Exactly." He nodded approvingly before his smile turned into a thin line. "But if there is anyone who should thank him for brining you here, shouldn't that be me?" He gripped the steering wheel harder in suppressed anger.

"Why on earth would you do that?" She hissed in horror. It was one thing if she had to thank that guy, but it would be a thousand times worse if Ren decided to thank him. She still got the chills from the memory of that one time in Karuizawa.

"Do you really have to ask?" He chuckled humorlessly. "Can you even imagine how I would be doing right now without you?" Even though he didn't look at her, the tone that implied she was supposed to understand was more than enough.

"Oh… you mean like that." She blushed and hoped the dark would cover it for her, and if it didn't she hoped he would just continue to look at the road. Of course she didn't know how she'd helped him in Dark Moon, but the rest she was quite aware of.

"But… I'm sure you could have found someone else than me to confide in." She reassured, though the thought actually hurt her.

It had the same effect on Ren.

"Is that really what you believe?" The hurt was right back in his voice and she thought she would go insane. She didn't like it when he sounded like that. It was one thing if he was mad, but when he was sad or hurt… it was more than she could bear.

"Um, I don't know… don't you think that there got to be someone out there better suited for you? I mean, I'm just amazed that I've-"

"No, there isn't." He cut her off almost angrily.

When she didn't respond to this he just sighed heavily. She was just worried he would lose focus on the road as they were driving through the busy streets of Tokyo. Though it seemed like he slowed down, like he was trying to find a good place to park.

"This is exactly what I've wanted to talk to you about, but you've persisted on cutting me off ever since we got in the car. Or rather, something I've wanted to _prove _to you. And not a day too soon, rather eighteen years too late. Or at least twelve."

Why twelve she didn't know, but she didn't dare to ask.

"A person can't just be replaced, and you are in fact important to others and me. Specifically me. And don't give me that look, we both know it's true."

For every word that was spoken, one bell started to ring after another. The alarm clocks chimed like never before and she was convinced she would go deaf, metaphorically speaking.

But even though her mind screamed at her, telling her that this was going in a very dangerous direction, she couldn't make herself do anything about it. She just stared at the man beside her. He wasn't even looking at her as he drove, but she could _feel _his full attention crushing on her as if he was staring at her with those sea-eyes.

"I am therefor going to tell you something no one else knows about. Something that will hopefully prove that I value and trust you enough to not want you to go away."

She just stared at him without saying a word, her heart going faster than she thought was humanly possible. The sight of him trembling didn't exactly help her nerves either.

She didn't want to hear it. But she couldn't stop it from happening. Again.

"I want you to know who I am." He didn't shout it, his voice wasn't even stable, but the words ringed in her ears as if he in fact had screamed it out loud.

After finally letting go of a shaky sigh she didn't even know she had been holding, she turned away to not look at his profile but to look down on her lap instead.

"You don't have to…" She whispered, tears threatening to escape.

"No, I do." He declared, not caring that she was trying to let him keep his secret.

"That's not what I meant." She took a deep breath and turned her head around to look at him again with uncertain eyes. "I already know."

The car came to a screeching halt.

**A/N: *stroking my white cat while laughing maliciously* I guess I should feel bad about the cliffhanger? But in my honest opinion I've earned the permission to be evil! I had to write the WHOLE thing all over again, since the first version sucked. But I digress.**

Now I'm on a school break so I have some time over to other stuff like this. I've been busy with ordinary school, driving school and… discovering Doctor Who. In one week I've completed 5 seasons! That show… is amazing and I should probably search for help.

**To at least console you about this evil chapter I can promise you won't have to wait so long. Hopefully. ;) Once again; thank you for all of your support and your fantastic reviews! I hope you all have a lovely time and please don't come to my house and shoot me. 3 /RDC**


	10. Ninth day of Christmas

**12 Days of Building Trust**

**Insert disclaimer for Skip Beat! here. Now carry on.**

_The car came to a screeching halt._

**Ninth day of Christmas**

OoOoO

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Kuu, all well?" Takarada greeted the famous actor in the phone.

"Not at all!" Kuu responded with such vigor that for a second Lory seriously thought something even worse had happened. That was before he remembered who it was he was talking to. "They are trying to starve me to death in this place! Small, tiny sandwiches for breakfast with a tiny cup of coffee and I only get one, teeny, tiny plate of food for lunch and dinner, and only another sandwich in the evening! Please save me from this madhouse!"

Lory suppressed his laughter with a cough. It looked like the actor was pretty much completely recovered then.

"You know you're in a hospital? Their job is to _save_ lives, not to kill people."

"That's hard to believe." Kuu muttered.

"Alright, if you say so. But how about your leg and shoulder?"

"Oh, just fine, just fine." Lory heard movement on the other end, which was followed by a woman shrieking at him to be still. "I'll be ready to get up and run in no time! Unless I die of starvation first."

This time Lory chuckled out loud.

"This is no laughing matter!" He growled but soon brightened up. "Though I do have a good idea! Send my son, the small one… oh, what the hell, send the big one as well over here so she can come and cook for me!" It didn't even sound like he was joking.

"You know I can't do that."

"But… I'm injured… I'm sure you can do something for your poor friend…" He whined.

"No." Lory completely discarded his request, earning a sigh from the other end. "Though this leads to the subject I wanted to talk to you about. I met your son, the big one, on New Year's." He rolled his eyes at the need to say "the big one".

The blonde didn't respond at first, but after a while he asked with caution. "How was he?"

"Don't sound so worried." Lory ordered with annoyance. "He's fine, that's not what I was going to tell you. Well, sort of, at least."

"… What's up with that making no sense-answer? I'm injured, don't try to sneak around things like you usually do. Tell me."

"You said you were fine just a minute ago."

"Well, it's worse now. I might be dying. Tell me."

The pompous king just laughed. Kuu had certainly lived in the same house as Julie for a long time. He dropped all the planned jokes to get straight to the point. What a waste.

"Well… I'm sure Julie told you about what happened the day after the accident?"

"We don't know anything. Only that she went to his house." He grumbled impatiently, clearly waiting for more information.

"Yes. But the next day he came to me, asking if he could borrow the little house on the hill outside the city. Plus he wanted me to give him some traditional New Year's food." Lory imagined how the other man's eyes went wide when he was met by nothing but silence. "He didn't tell me anything, but I'm pretty sure we both know what was going on."

"He was taking her out to the cabin _alone_?" Kuu suddenly growled (to Lory's great surprise). "What if he did something indecent? I'm going to _kill_ the man who hurts my daughter."

"… Your parenting is very perplexing, never mind confusing." Lory replied and shook his head. "What I meant to say is that this proves that everything went just fine."

Lory's expression softened as he leaned back on his medieval throne, remembering _Ren's_ expression when Lory met him for the first time after _that_ happened.

"I even dare to say that it went better than we could have imagined."

"How did he…" Kuu paused. He wasn't sure how to ask the right question, but he finally settled for something simple. "How did he look?"

Lory laughed and then teased. "Exactly like you did when you realized you loved Julie. It's almost frightening how much you look alike. I'm almost afraid other people will soon put two and two together."

Kuu laughed softly. "That happy, huh."

"Yes, and you know what's even more amazing? The look on _her _face when I met her the other day."

"What do you mean?"

"You remember that day you realized _Julie_ loved you back?"

"Oh."

"Yes." Lory nodded, even though he knew the actor couldn't see him.

"So, when will my grandkids come to visit me then?" Kuu suddenly ruined the deep atmosphere and the same female voice from before hissed in the background, followed by a loud slap and an "Ow!".

"Not anytime soon." Lory stated firmly, disappointing the actor.

"Darn it." He pouted. Again, the lack of an implied joke frightened the great president. "But what happened?"

"I have no idea."

"What do you mean 'you have no idea'? You're supposed to be the insider, the spy, give me details!" Kuu exclaimed, and yet again there was someone telling him to be still.

"I don't know. I haven't met either of them since two days ago."

Kuu gasped.

"That means he _could _have done something reckless!"

Lory sighed.

"Hey, you were just talking about grandkids, decide whose dad you are before saying obnoxious things. And no, I wouldn't think so. I don't think Mogami-kun would be out shopping with a friend today otherwise."

"I can be both." He muttered then said more clearly. "But, how do you know that?"

"I happened to overhear her conversation with Maria before. She mentioned it." He tried to sound inconspicuous.

"Then you don't know for sure!" It failed and caused him to roll his eyes for the second time during this conversation.

"Calm down, do you really think Ren would do something to her?"

"No. But Kuon might."

This actually made the President hesitate.

"… You actually have a point there…" Takarada agreed thoughtfully and then simply fell silent.

"… What are you doing?" Suspicion filled the actor when his friend seemed to have completely shut the door in front of his face.

"Thinking."

"Thinking?"

"Something you do with your brain when you want to figure things out. You should try it sometime."

"Ha, ha… oh, lunch!" The sound of cutlery, plates and thank you suddenly interrupted their phone call. "Sorry, what was I thinking… yes, what are _you_ thinking about?"

Lory waited a few more moments before answering.

"That he might just have done something. But that something could be good." He hurried the last sentence fast so the actor wouldn't have time to wail.

"Like what?"

"I just might have an idea." He smiled secretively and even though Kuu couldn't see it, he could well imagine it.

"Let's make a bet." Lory offered, quickly getting rid of the suspicion the actor might have had. It frightened him how easy it was to distract his friend.

"Now we're talking." Kuu replied with equal excitement, completely forgetting all about secrets and other potential important stuff. "About what? And remember! No tricks or meddling!"

"I won't need to." Lory didn't even bother to explain what to bet on. He thought it would be quite obvious anyway. "I'll give them three days."

"Three _days_?" Kuu laughed out loud. "Not a chance."

"Sure. Whatever you say. What about you?" He answered without a hint of hesitation.

Kuu was slightly taken aback by his reply, considering all the mischiefs he could come up with while talking like that. Though he wasn't about to back down.

"I'll give them at least two more weeks."

Lory laughed.

"Now_ you're_ making it too easy for me."

OoOoO

"Could you _please_ concentrate on what you're doing? If you're going to use one of your free days shopping with me, shouldn't you at least put some effort into being present?" Kanae snapped her fingers in front of Kyoko's eyes with annoyance as the girl was currently staring off into nothing.

This had been happening all day long; Kanae tried to talk to Kyoko, but Kyoko was completely zoned out.

At least _this_ finally caught Kyoko's attention. She blinked and looked at Kanae as if she'd been woken up after falling asleep in class.

"I'm sorry, Moko-san!" She suddenly wailed and her lower lip started to quiver. How embarrassing it may have been, Kanae was still relieved that her friend was somewhat back to normal.

Though there was something (particularly) odd about her this day.

"I'm just… tired. I'm so sorry! I was the one who invited you so I'm supposed to only care about you!"

Kanae sighed. She had been secretly happy to go out with Kyoko this day, but now she behaved so weird because of the-one-who-should not-be-named it was unnerving.

She had planned on squeezing every single detail out of her, and she had at least expected to see some signs of reflecting emotions in Kyoko's face. They would have helped Kanae to ask the right questions.

The problem was; Kyoko didn't show _any_ signs of any kind of emotion. She just zoned out like a turned off robot.

"Let's take a break and… eat something." Kanae said the last words with reluctance. But a promise is a promise.

Temporally forgetting about her problems, Kyoko squealed with joy when Kanae grabbed her arm to drag her to the nearest ice cream bar. And when Kanae bought everything for both of them the top of Kyoko's bliss-bar threatened to explode.

"You're so kind…" She complimented happily as she tasted her strawberry sorbet. "I couldn't be luckier. And you even know my favorite flavor!"

"That's what friends are for." Kanae mumbled and changed the subject before Kyoko got the chance to tackle her down to the ground. "So, how did it go?"

"What?" Kyoko asked innocently, smiling brightly.

"Your _date_?" She said the words with such distaste and was both pleased and horrified to see the other girl's easy-going expression stay the same… only to be turned into stone.

"Please don't use such foul words." She was still smiling. "You're an actress, you shouldn't curse in public." Her voice sounded like the one you hear at a train station.

Kanae raised her eyebrows.

"It was that bad?"

"We didn't go on a date." Kyoko replied with friendliness that somehow managed to be frightening. "Please forgive me for using such a disgusting word."

"It's… okay?" Kanae didn't exactly know how to reply to that one. "Then what happened?"

Kyoko paused for a moment. That's a very good question. She had spent the entire first day of the year wondering about the same thing.

_"There are three things you still have to figure out about me." _

This sentence replayed itself as a bad song stuck on repeat and made her want to jump off a cliff in pure frustration.

"Nothing special, really…" She finally answered hesitantly, though trying to sound as if nothing really had happened. Of course that was a complete lie. "He picked me up at nine and we drove off to a nice cabin on the top of a hill outside the city-"

"_Alone_?" Kanae shrieked but quickly lowered her voice because of the stairs she got. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Then we ate some food and watched the city as the clock struck twelve. Then he drove me home." She didn't _exactly_ lie. She just didn't tell her the whole story.

It didn't work.

"I don't believe you." Kanae snapped and crossed her arms. "You wouldn't turn into a space cadet if 'nothing special' happened."

"But-"

"No buts, I'm not stupid, nor am I blind. What happened?" She demanded and leaned over the table to stare into Kyoko's frightened eyes and said with a menacing voice. "You better tell me."

Kyoko was stunned. At any other time she would have blurted all of her secrets out without hesitation, but now she was just dumbfounded at what she was supposed to do.

She loved her best friend more than life itself, but this secret, it was…

" I… can't." It was impossible. "Please don't hate me…"

The look on Kyoko's face was so conflicting and desperate, and the pleading in her voice made everything so much harder for the taller girl.

She'd understood that there was something big going on, but this big? Based on Kyoko's face it looked as if it was a matter of life and death.

She clenched her hands tightly and released an angry sigh after a few moments of frantic thoughts of want, need and moral.

"Alright. Don't tell me." Kyoko drew a breath in surprise and secret relief and it managed to aggravate Kanae even more. She felt a jealous pang in her heart as she realized that her friend was trusted some great secret that she couldn't take part of. "But you can at least confirm this: Something happened?"

Kyoko's face was still filled with concern, but at least she nodded, though reluctantly.

"It's nothing dangerous?"

_Define dangerous._ Kyoko joked darkly to herself, but at least she shook her head in denial.

"Then that's all I need to know." _… For now._ "But if you're not going to talk about that, tell me what you got yesterday and today." She demanded half-heartedly, trying to revert back to her old self, saving herself from the troubled energy her friend was emitting.

At least this made _Kyoko_ revert back to her old self. Her left eye seemed to twitch for a second before a look of pure joy graced her face which then turned into one of grief a second later.

"What?" Kanae asked blatantly, not even surprised about the reaction.

"I haven't gotten the one for today yet, and I won't open it when I get it either. Though I had been planning on not accepting the one for yesterday either since this person forced me to wear one of the Rose Petal dresses and loads of other stuff I got-"

"He what?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"I had no choice! What if I ended up on a grand party and looked plain and stupid?" _Oh._ Kanae had thought she meant that the person had shown up in her house.

"Anyway, I didn't want it. I was angry." She remembered when she got the small square box from Sebastian, Lory's butler, who had been waiting for her outside her home for who knows how long. "But then I read the rhyme!" She exclaimed and stretched her arms over the table.

"… What did it say?" Suspicion filled the taller girl's voice. Was it a threat?

"_Eight magic beings to protect this place,_

_I'm sure this will put a smile on your face._"

"Oh." Of course. That made sense.

"Yes." Kyoko muttered. "Before I knew it I had opened it, and do you know what was in there? A snow globe! And the foot was decorated with eight _fairies_."

__"Wow, he's good." She admitted. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Give it back." She sighed sadly. She wished she'd never opened it in the first place.

"Really? Are you even capable of doing that?" She snorted with disbelief.

Kyoko frowned at this as she looked down on her ice cream.

"I don't have a choice."

OoOoO

… Or did she?

About two hours after they'd finished their fat-bombs, as Kanae liked to call them, the girls had parted ways and Kyoko was now sitting on her futon while holding the precious globe she'd spoken of earlier in her hands.

She wanted desperately to keep it, but the Giver had obviously gotten his way too much. She was sure that this was his goal all along; to make her accept expensive things as a game. It was really very typical for him, and she felt stupid for not realizing this sooner.

Of course it was him. The greatest schemer of them all. It was Sebastian who gave it away. Who else would be capable of buying all these stuff to her and know so much about her likings anyway? And how could he have known and told Ren about it otherwise?

It was only logical.

She stared at the white photo album with a cute kitten painted on the front that was lying peacefully in front of her. It was the gift she'd gotten today.

"_Nine lives should be enough to protect,_

_All the sacred memories you will collect."_

She just couldn't resist opening them.

She sighed. She would wait out the next three days and then tell him that she had figured it all out since she didn't want to spoil his fun too early. She really didn't like the thought of a pirate captain or an alien crying on her doorstep. Though she didn't exactly feel that she owed him that much.

She turned the globe upside down, held it there a few seconds, and then turned it upright again to see the snow fall down on the perfect little forest.

A perfect world.

This made her consider things. If she lived in the same world as that forest, how would she be living right now?

Would Sho have loved her back from the start? Perhaps she would never have met him? Would she have gone to Tokyo and met all her friends there? Would it be different?

What _is_ a perfect world?

_"Tell me in which one of those worlds you would be sitting here beside me?"_

"None." She replied the memory in a sad voice. If _he_ also lived in the perfect world she would never have met him. He would never have come to Japan in the first place because he would never have had those problems from before.

Her thoughts trailed back to that night.

What she didn't know was that a certain person in another part of the city was doing the exact same thing.

To be perfectly honest, it was _all_ he could think of.

"You know?" She remembered the hoarse whisper from that night. Even though he had stopped the car he was still staring right ahead, looking at nothing but the empty road.

Kyoko just fidgeted and felt fear rise in her body. Not because he could be dangerous, but because he could get angry with her for not telling him, or even worse, revert back to not being himself again and not returning, threatening to shut down all the walls between them again.

But wasn't that what she wanted?

She bit her lip and thought about the alternatives. No matter how hard she tried she knew it was a lie. She didn't want that.

"Yes…"

"For how long?" His eyes were now closed and he took a deep breath, holding it, as if he was preparing himself for an impact.

"Not long, just before we went to the car earlier this evening."

Ren nodded stiffly in understanding.

"You froze." He simply stated, not seeming to be capable of forming longer sentences.

"Yes." She confirmed, not surprised he remembered her strange behavior. She was more surprised he hadn't tried to pry it out of her sooner. "I… saw something on our way out."

He didn't move or say anything. Just waited.

"It was a gossip magazine someone must have forgotten on one of the tables, and it had a picture of you on the cover." She paused for just a moment before she whispered. "Or at least that's what I thought."

Ren was still not looking at anything or showing any signs of relaxing or any other kind of reaction. His expression was still completely focused on something unknown to her. It frightened her and made her tremble.

"Because of the accident, he's been the center of the media's attention, so it shouldn't be surprising that there was a picture of him from when he was younger on the cover."

Ren clenched the steering wheel as another heavy silence fell upon both actors.

"You are… his son, aren't you? You're Hizuri Kuon."

He finally moved. He slowly nodded and opened his eyes as he turned to face her, and it was as if… it pained him to see her expression.

She could see the same pain mirror in his eyes for just a split second before he turned to look down on his hands instead of her with the most agonizing look.

"… And that scares you." He stated.

"Yes." She confirmed in a week whisper, trying hard not to let her voice break.

For a moment she was sure his breathing stopped altogether.

"Why?" It sounded as if he already knew.

Kyoko didn't answer right away. She couldn't tell him the whole truth, but she couldn't stay silent and make him worried.

"I'm… scared that what if I was able to figure out because of a picture, others might recognize it as well and everything you've worked for goes to a waste?"

The actor's head snapped back up with a baffled expression as he stared into her eyes, hypnotizing her with his intense gaze.

"Let me get this straight so I'm not fooling myself." He looked at her with the most astonished look. "You're afraid _for _me, not _of _me?"

Kyoko blinked in surprise.

"Why on earth would I be scared of you?" She laughed without amusement.

This had the effect of angering him for some reason, because his eyes suddenly darkened and some of his control he had seemed to be holding before was fleeting away.

If there ever was a trace of Ren left it had completely vanished by now.

"Because not only have you seen me do horrible things, you now also know that there's some kind of pained past tied to my family's name. To my dad." He replied as if it was obvious. It _was _obvious. He continued in an even angrier, lower voice, though more directed to himself rather than her. "Because I'm a monster that you've failed to see."

"You are _not_ a monster." She snapped at him with equal anger before he could say anything more. "I have told you this already. That side of you is _not _you."

"How can you be so sure of that?" He retorted between clenched teeth.

"Because _you_ are here." She replied with determination. "And if you're going to be angry with me, why did you want to tell me in the first place?"

"I told you. It's because that will make you understand how important you are to me. That perhaps if you know me fully, you'll be able to trust me as much as I trust you."

Kyoko was stunned. She would never have imagined such a sincere answer. Her heart was quivering at every single implication of every word that was said.

He trusted her like his absolute best friend… or something else, and her heart was failing of just the sight of him. Everything about him was so very unbearable.

Her values and former morals were in turmoil and she had no clue as to what she was supposed to do or react.

She settled for looking sad, masking more pain than anything else inside of her.

"I do trust you…" She reassured quietly.

"But…?"

"But… I don't trust myself." She could never have been more truthful. She barely knew herself anymore. Everything confused her and made her disorientated. She couldn't even tell herself what she wanted or thought anymore. Whenever she settled for something, another side of her told her to do differently.

It was like having split personalities.

He didn't reply to this. She didn't look at him, so she couldn't see his expression and guess what he was thinking. She could only wait for him to say something.

All she could think was that he either understood her more than she did herself, or that he was at a complete loss. She wanted to say she hoped for the second, but her heart told her something else. A clear example of her conflicting emotions.

"How can I help?" He sounded desperate.

_Stop giving me all this affection and go back to how it was before? _She didn't like this thought.

"Can you find me?" She asked with both hope and despair.

Nothing was being said between the two, and no eye contact was made either, but she could _feel_ his gaze.

"What if I say I've already found you, would that be enough?" The tone in his voice was perplexing. It didn't match the situation at all.

It sounded almost… sweet.

"Then… who am I?" She retorted with a pout, trying to sound angry, which was hard to do when he sounded like that.

She looked up at him.

And when he _looked _like that. 

"The part of you that's the most overpowering. Your true personality, remember?"

Of course he had to use her own words against her.

"That doesn't help." She stated flatly, not even trying to cover the annoyance that was actually real this time.

He didn't answer. At first she thought he just couldn't answer and it kind of disappointed her, but that figuring look told her otherwise.

"Let me drive you home." He finally said as he started to focus on the road again, stopping every single word she might have wanted to say.

They got to the restaurant only five minutes later, since he'd stopped the car just a few blocks away from her home. When they got there he told her to wait as he got out of the car.

He walked around it quickly and opened the door to let the embarrassed and still confused girl out of the vehicle.

"That's really silly you know." She muttered with a small blush. She didn't know what a proper response would be. The mood changed so quickly from heavy and depressing to happy and light that she hadn't really been able to adapt just yet.

"Well, I wanted to do it."

It was almost unnatural and made her suspicious.

When he didn't seem to have anything more to say she was yet again left with no idea as to how she should respond. She decided to try something normal.

"Um, alright… eh, Hizuri-san, thanks for a wonderful, and strange, night and…" She didn't know how to end that sentence. She didn't even know if the night had ended yet or if…

All of a sudden he gently grabbed her hand to quiet her down, though that beaming, soft smile was enough to make her breath catch in her throat and erase anything related to "language" out of her head anyway.

"I'm going to give you a riddle."

"A riddle?" She managed to say, or rather, squeak.

"Yes, just going to give you something to think about." Oh, and there we go. Go ahead; smile like a scheming angel. It's not like she needed her eyes or brain or anything. _Stupid American_. "There are three things you still have to figure out about me."

"And how, did you imagine, am I supposed to do that?" She pulled her hand away from his and crossed her arms in annoyance. It was even more annoying to see his smile almost falter at her action.

"You already know the answers."

"I do?"

"Yes, just think about it." He nodded. "I think it will help you find what you're looking for." He reached out his hand to gently caress her arm, but he quickly withdrew it with what looked like uncertainty. "Alright. Thanks for a lovely evening and I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Kyoko."

And with that, he quickly got into his car with a secretive smile, leaving her alone in awe and angry confusion. She was even too baffled to even register that he'd used her first name.

Even now, when she was sitting on her bed thinking about it, she was angrily confused.

"This makes no sense! How can I know something I haven't figured out yet?" She exclaimed to herself as she put the globe down in front of her beside the photo album.

Even though she knew it was impossible, it still made her space out all the time while trying to understand.

Even yesterday after she'd woken up, the couple had been worried about her weird behavior, the Taicho looking most suspicious.

Then there was something even _worse_ that was going to happen the next day, the day when everyone would go back to work after the New Year celebrations.

It was time to continue the filming on _Wake me up_. It was inevitable for her not to have to face him again and she had no clue as to how she should react or behave. She was scared of facing him since she had no idea who she would meet. Would he be himself, or act as if nothing had happened. Probably the latter.

Then there was that other thing. Now that she knew and now that he had trusted her with the greatest secret he had, something that made him so very vulnerable to her, she had no way of controlling herself.

She hated all of this.

But she didn't want to make it undone.

All this stress was pressing down on her like a ton of concrete and made her more restless than ever.

"Who am I and what do I want?" She hugged her legs tightly against her body with desperation as she watched the perfect world in front of her rest in its safe globe.

She didn't even notice the tears that streamed down her face as she wished she could be in there and escape the storm inside of her.

**A/N: You know what I said a few chapters ago that that would be the longest one? Well, I lied.**

**Thank you Leavesfallingup for sparing me and my computers life, it's very much appreciated, even though I couldn't handle the deadline. ;) And BrizzyBabber; not fair. Not fair. Good thing you didn't meet David Tennant though, because then I would have died of jealousy.**

**Just a side-note; I've said it before; I don't like the word date. At least not applied to Ren and Kyoko. I just feel that they don't need it. Though Kyoko doesn't like it for an entire different reason. XD  
>Oh! And I'm so not used to guys opening doors for me either, I find it weird since I'm perfectly capable of doing so myself thank you very much, and I happen to have a boyfriend that is very fond of this. Yes, it creates some unintentional funny moments at times.<strong>

**Hope you have a lovely week and I'll see you soon!/RDC **


	11. Tenth day of Christmas

**12 Days of Building Trust**

**No, I don't own Skip Beat! and I never will.**

_She didn't even notice the tears that streamed down her face as she wished she could be in there and escape the storm inside of her. _

**Tenth day of Christmas**

OoOoO

"What?" Ren asked with slight suspicion when he discovered the familiar brunette giving him an amused stare.

Aiko's smile just broadened.

"No, nothing. I was just wondering if you've ever thought about getting a red cap."

"A red cap?" He echoed, surprised at the random thought.

"Yes, I think you'd really suit in one. Especially if it has a big, white M on the front."

"What are you-"

"Aiko-chan!" They both turned to meet a very terrified looking girl slap a hand over Aiko's mouth.

"Good morning to you as well." Ren chuckled, not quite following. He wasn't exactly sure he really wanted to know either.

"Good morning, um…" She hesitated for a moment as his smile broadened. "…Tsuruga-san." It cooled off just a little.

Aiko forced the hand that was still on her mouth off her face as she studied the exchange.

"What's going on?" She narrowed her eyes at both of them with exaggerated suspicion and pointed at them with a sweeping motion. "Something's happened."

No reply.

"Aha! I'm correct!" She threw both of her arms up in the air in triumph, but Kyoko was quick to shoot her temporary victory down dead.

"Correct about what?" There was more bitterness in Kyoko's voice than was normal for her. The other two had expected her to be at least flustered. "We simply said good morning to each other, we do that every time we meet in the morning."

It kind of hurt.

"You, my friend, are probably the most boring person on this planet." Aiko stated with a disappointed pout.

"I am not!" Kyoko denied, sounding almost offended. "Isn't it just impolite to make you see impossible stuff?"

Ouch.

Aiko grimaced painfully in return for a reason Kyoko didn't quite understand. Perhaps she would have if she had noticed the face Ren made at her words, the last sentence in particular. Aiko felt seriously sad for the guy.

"And you're cruel." She huffed but turned to Ren before the other girl could contradict her or ask why she would say such a mean thing. In reality, she felt she had to do something to stop this awkwardness. "So, Mareo-kun, are you looking forward to today's shooting?"

"I don't know what you're implying." That was indeed a lie, but the happy mood he had been in this morning seemed to have vanished and if Kyoko was going to go back their old ways, then so was he.

"Aw, come on! You two haven't had any real exciting scenes so far! Just big bro trying to talk to her and Suzu avoiding him. Boring. The most interesting scene this far was that one of you last week when he talked to his mom. Seriously, let something _interesting _happen already!"

Aiko shook her head in disapproval. She was clearly one of those girls who loved love-filled dramas and movies, and she didn't care to notice, or care at all, whether the actors felt embarrassed and awkward or not. She obviously thought this movie lacked in that area.

Kyoko was too embarrassed by the train of thought to even look at either of them.

"If you say it like that, then I suppose that that's how it is." He chuckled after a while. In truth, he dreaded the scene. Considering the last few days this could possibly be one of the most dangerous things he'd ever set his mind on doing.

"I'm… actually looking forward to it" Kyoko interrupted shyly and continued to look in another direction.

This threw the other two off even more than anything she had done so far. She was actually looking forward to…?

"I mean," She continued hastily with a blush when she realized how that could be misinterpreted. "Now when I'm in the character of Suzu, I just hurt all over. But the farther we go in the movie, the easier everything becomes."

Realization hit the others and both Ren and Aiko let out a silent sigh at the exact same time and also for the same reason.

"I see. That's nice to hear then." Even though his feelings were still a little sore, he still loved her more than anything, and seeing her going through this hurtful character was painful for him to watch. Especially since he had a pretty good idea as to how it felt.

"Indeed." Aiko agreed impressively. "I'm just more amazed that you can actually _feel _it. Is that even possible?"

"Yes of course! Don't you feel some of your characters feelings when you play Hitomi?" She asked, not mentioning that the only reason she had managed to pull Suzu off was by thinking about her experiences with Ren's "disappearing".

"Yeah, kind of, but I can't imagine what _you_ have to go through." She shook her head and gave a meaning look to Ren. "The only one I can imagine doing the same is shorty over here."

Ren laughed at the remark, though he was glad to see her warm up to the comment about being equal to him professionally.

_And rightfully so._

"Ren! Kyoko-chan!" They heard the familiar voice call from behind and they turned to see Yashiro walking towards them. The man stopped dead in his tracks as he looked from Ren to Kyoko and back again.

He narrowed his eyes at both actors.

"What's going on? Something's happened." He stared at them with an expression hauntingly similar to the one Aiko did just a few minutes ago.

And just like the last time they gave no response what so ever.

"Aha! I was correct!" He smiled triumphantly which only made Ren groan inwardly at the deja vú. Kyoko on the other hand was just annoyed that everyone had to see this kind of stuff today; it was hard as it was already.

"Was there anything in particular you needed to inform us with?" Ren asked it as nonchalantly as he possibly could, but the irritation was impossible to miss. He wasn't in the mood for another headshot from the girl beside him.

The manager continued to study his two favorite toys a few moments longer and the suspicion only grew stronger as Aiko mouthed "I know, right!" behind the other actors while waving both hands between them as to show that they had some sort of special connection.

"Yes…" He finally answered. "They want you to get ready. They told me that they are about to start in just a minute."

"Finally!" Aiko suddenly exclaimed with pretended impatience before anyone else got the chance to react. She rolled her eyes at the others wondering gazes and grabbed Kyoko's arm to drag her off. "Kyoko-chan, come with me for just a moment."

"Uh, why?"

"Just come with me." She said it this time with real impatience, ignoring the look the tall man beside her was giving her.

"Alright… See you in a minute." She turned to say to Ren before they were out of hearing distance.

"Now. What is going on?" The older girl asked as soon as they'd gotten to the other side of the room, a good distant from the rest.

"Aiko-chan, I'm supposed to be on set…"

"Don't worry, they won't be starting without you." That was exactly what Kyoko was worrying about. "Now, spill the hot beans."

"There's nothing to spill." Kyoko's voice was just a bit too high pitched to not convince the other girl.

She raised an eyebrow.

"… At least nothing I can say." If she couldn't tell her absolute best friend anything about this, how was she supposed to tell this girl?

Aiko nodded in understanding, and the relief that this gave Kyoko didn't last long.

"Oh, I see… It's gone that far."

Because it didn't seem like she needed to tell her anything.

"When will I get my invitation?" She suddenly asked, throwing Kyoko off guard. "To the wedding that is."

If Kyoko had been eating anything at this moment she would have choked on it so hard she could possibly have died.

"What?" She hissed quietly in horror and she wanted to put a hand over the girl's mouth again, but she resisted. Barely. "What are you _saying_?"

"Seriously, come _on_. Why do you think both me and Yashiro-san reacted like we did when we saw you both?"

"Because you are both really weird people?"

Aiko rolled her eyes again. "I hope you're aware of that very certain magnetic field surrounding the two of you. Seriously, if I would try to walk between you I would bounce right back."

"… That is ridiculous."

Aiko slapped a hand on her forehead and sighed loudly. 

"No, _you _are ridiculous. You are both stupid and blind at the same time. Have you even _seen_ how he looks at you? How he _talks_ to you?"

Kyoko bit her lower lip and a small crease appeared between her eyebrows. She had. Every single time she'd seen it, she just didn't want to admit it to herself. He was just being nice.

"Or more importantly; how _you_ look at him and how _you_ talk to him." She scolded and watched the effect it had on the smaller girl.

"He's just my friend." She wanted to say it firmly, to make a statement, but it only came out as a week whisper.

"_And _you're killing him in the process."

Kyoko didn't reply to this. Her split personality was kicking in again. One wanted to deny it with all her might, tell her how silly that was, but the other saw some kind of truth in this. The only thing the two sides agreed on was that she was masochistic and killing herself. That was for sure.

"Haven't you noticed that other people look at you in a funny way?"

That she actually had not. There were more? That was the most horrifying thought she could think of. Nightmarish images of tabloids in gossip magazines popped up in her head and her eyes widened. That would be horrible, what had she done? What was even worse; how would he react? She didn't want to know.

To tell the truth, there was only one person she had noticed that had behaved the same way.

"Moko-san…" She murmured.

"That's your best friend, right?"

Kyoko nodded.

"She thinks you're a genius, by the way…"

"Of course she does."

"Kyoko-chan, we need you. Now." They suddenly heard the director shout.

"Alright!" Aiko called back so everyone could hear. Then she stretched out one arm to Kyoko and spoke with an intended bad impression of a dramatic scene, causing everyone on set to chuckle. Except the two it was directed to, that is. "Suzu, go! Walk to your happy future of happiness, love and romance!"

The walk of Shame that followed after being sent off with those words towards the scene was humiliating. She swore she would kill that girl one day.

OoOoO

Arakida Mareo was the role Ren played. He was the oldest son of the foster family Suzu stayed with and he was very used to the kids coming and going every now and then. They mostly got along just fine and he never felt like he was lacking any attention from his parents. He was more impressed by all the wonders his mother was capable of doing for these poor children.

In a matter of weeks the lost children started to shine up again and a few years later they were old enough to move out, since they were all teenagers when they moved in.

Just as a side note he had to admit that the most interesting time of the year had to be their Christmas parties when everyone came to visit them. Some with girlfriends and wives and the oldest ones even had small children that they brought with them.

But Suzu had been so very different from the rest of the people that had ever entered the home of the Arakida family. It even went so far that he overheard his parents talking about putting her in another home since she seemed to be so unhappy with them.

That's when he took action. He started to spend much more time with her, even though she never said anything or seemed to put any effort into communicating. But he had to try; if his family couldn't help her, no one could.

One day though, something happened. A break through that made her "wake up", thereof the title.

This scene is that specific moment. 

"Hey, Suzu-chan." Mareo greeted the quiet girl who was sitting quietly on a chair in the garden all by herself, staring at the lawn.

She nodded in response.

"I see you've changed your favorite place to sit alone and stare at. Again." He joked. She did this every now and then; sitting several days at the same spot, staring at something before changing the location to do the same thing on another place. "Is it the flowers this time?"

There was a slight movement in her left eyebrow, but just for a split second, that showed the sign of surprise. It told him that he had somehow guessed right.

"I see. Do you mind if I sit down with you for a few minutes?"

She gave him a quick, shy glance and nodded in permission.

He sat down on the ground beside her chair, putting his backpack beside him and leaned against the wall of the house. They sat like that for several minutes, listening to the birds singing and the light summer breeze rustling in the trees.

"When you first got here I thought you really didn't care about anything at all." He started after a while. "I thought it didn't matter to you what happened to you or anyone else, but I also thought that mom would be able to change that like she'd been able to do with everyone else."

He looked up at her and saw the sign of guilt slightly visible on her face, but he turned his face away again, knowing she would be more comfortable that way.

"But then I saw you one time on a rainy day. You picked a small snail up by its shell from the road and put it on the side so it wouldn't be run over. And another time when a small girl dropped her balloon you bought her a new one, though she was slightly scared by how quiet you were. I even saw you smile that day, which was the most surprising thing about it all."

He laughed when he saw the closest to horror being expressed on her face. "Don't look at me like that. I drive past you quite often when I'm driving home from work and you're on your way home from school."

This fact seemed to frighten her even more and he couldn't help but to laugh even louder.

"But mom and dad haven't seen these parts of you yet." His smile faltered. "I even overheard them the other day when they discussed whether you wanted to stay here or not. They actually think you're unhappy here."

A small gasp escaped her lips and her eyes widened. This shocked her, though it really shouldn't, she should be used to it by now.

It was just… this family. They were special.

Mareo frowned.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry." He apologized and gave her a handkerchief. She hadn't even noticed that tears had escaped her eyes, and that shocked her even more. Why was she so off guard today?

She carefully, though hesitantly, dried her eyes and tried to hand the piece of fabric back, but he only shook his head.

"Keep it. Anyway, this was the reason I brought you to the beach yesterday, to try to find out how you really felt about all of this, and something very interesting happened." Her slightly narrowed eyes amused him, as to say 'what did you do this time?'.

"For the first time you did something _you_ wanted to do."

She stiffened.

"When you saw that man sitting in the sand with the big canvas in front of him, painting the sea, I saw a light in your eyes that's never been visible before." He suddenly turned to his bag, unzipped it and reached into it to take something out. "Since you never ask for anything I have no choice but to figure it out by myself."

He put a small sketch book on her lap together with an unopened package of colored pencils.

"You like art, don't you? That's why you sit and stare at things like this. They're motives. And even though that is so you refuse to go to art class and it's the only subject you fail in."

She wasn't listening any longer. She just stared at the items placed on her lap in silent shock. She touched the rough paper of the cover and couldn't believe what it was she had been given. No one had ever seen through her like that.

Mareo sighed.

"What did I do to make you cry this time?"

Her tears had started to well up from her eyes again without her knowing and her shoulders started to shake as horrible memories blocked all of her senses.

"It was my fault." She silently whispered, ignoring anything he said. "It's my fault."

Suddenly she felt a feather like touch of a hand brush on her temple and she jerked back in shock. Mareo was now kneeling beside her and giving her a worried look.

"What is?"

She looked at him with wide eyes. Everything inside of her told her to stay quiet, to shut down and not let anyone in. It could be dangerous. It _was_ dangerous.

But after seven years of holding all of the pains inside her it seemed like the dam had finally decided to burst and everything came out at once. She wasn't even quite aware of what she was doing anymore.

"If I never had touched a pencil I would still be playing with Shuji." It came out like a hoarse whisper and her entire body was trembling.

"Shuji, wasn't that your little-" Then reality dawned on him as he realized what she was talking about. She was referring to the robbery all those years ago when she lost her parents and her little brother.

What had he done?

"Many of my pictures had gotten into several galleries all around Tokyo and my parents were so proud of me. So for my eleventh birthday they decided to go to the bank to take a loan so we could go to Paris and visit the Louvre." Her voice started to fail and she clenched the sketchbook hard in her hands, still not finding a way to stop all those words from leaving her lips. "That is when that happened. And if I hadn't been so eager to go it wouldn't have happened."

It was finally too much for her to handle. She collapsed and cried in her hands uncontrollably. Before she knew it she was curled up in someone's, Mareo's, arms.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered in her hair as he held her tightly to him. She didn't even have the strength to push him away. "I had no idea you felt that way."

She said nothing, not even a small denial, just continued to sob as if there was no tomorrow. It certainly felt that way.

They sat like that for a long while on the ground as he stroked her back in comfort.

He didn't say or do anything until she finally managed to calm down. When he did, he tried to sound lighthearted to not put more pressure on her and change the mood. She had enough to go through as it was already.

"You know. It's not your fault." Surprisingly enough, she snorted. That was the closest to anger she'd come so far since she moved in. He guessed that she didn't care about what she did anymore and he took the reaction as if she didn't believe him. "I mean, you didn't exactly wish for this to happen, right?"

She looked up and gave him an angry glare.

"Exactly. You were not the one telling the robbers to go and kill all those people." He pushed a few stray hairs away from her face. "And if they knew you were sitting here and blamed yourself, how happy do you think they would be about that?"

This took her aback. Since she had only hated herself all these years she had never thought about it in that way. She had only been afraid she would bring bad luck to people she liked or loved, which was the reason she practically didn't do anything to burden anyone. The only thing she knew was that they were dead and it was all her fault.

"My mom…" She sucked in a deep breath. It had been so long since she last uttered those two words. "Mom… would be sad…" She admitted after a while and looked down on his shirt she was currently clutching. Realizing what she was doing, she let it go in embarrassment.

"What would she have wanted you to do?"

She considered this and finally glanced at the pencils and the sketchpad on the ground, the cover had been flipped up so you could see a fresh, unused, white paper facing the sky.

As if he had heard her thoughts he reached out to grab the pad, and the pencils, and put it in front of her, still holding her in his lap.

"Show me." He whispered and put one of the pencils in her hand and then held that hand gently to the paper.

She hesitated, still not moving.

"I don't think I can…" She whispered unsurely as she stared at the large, warm hand holding hers.

"Yes, you can. If you falter, I'll be there to catch you." He gave her a light squeeze in reassurance and then whispered in a much lower voice right behind her ear that had to be too low for any microphones or cameras to catch. "You can trust me."

Every single bell or alarm clock that was left and had been lurking in Kyoko's heart and mind died and went silent as the final wall exploded into thousands of pieces.

**A/N: I like snails; they are cute. I always pick them up by the shell and give them a ride to the other side, and if I accidently step on one my day is completely ruined.**

**Well, there isn't much left now, is there? Thank you everyone for still bearing with me and my story. I actually struggled quite a bit with this chapter, and I'm still not really pleased with it, but it will have to do. Now there will be a while until the next chapter, because I'm going to be very busy with school etc.**

**Hope you have a lovely weekend and I will see you in a while!/RDC**


	12. Eleventh day of Christmas

**12 Days of Building Trust  
><strong>

**I don't own Skip Beat! Or any of its characters, except my own that is.**

_Every single bell or alarm clock that was left and had been lurking in Kyoko's heart and mind died and went silent as the final wall exploded into thousands of pieces.__  
><em>

**Eleventh day of Christmas**

OoOoO

Kyoko just stared at the envelope in front of her, still lying on the same spot as it had when she got home the former day of exhausting shooting. For the first time ever since she started to receive all these gifts she hadn't once felt like opening this. It felt unimportant.

And frightening.

Judging from the size of the envelope she had a pretty good idea as to what it might be anyway, considering what she got two days ago. But ever since that last scene yesterday, everything had felt pointless and not worth her attention. She was restless and tired at the same time, wanting to sleep but couldn't find a way to shut her eyes.

Everything was impossible.

Her day at work had been like walking in the land of the dead. For the rest of the world _she_ had been the walking dead.

Not even Kanae could make her cheer up when she stepped into the room, which had frightened the dark haired girl severely. It didn't matter what she did, Kyoko didn't seem to be present in the same room.

This was abnormal, even for Kyoko.

"What did he do this time?" She had asked the golden eyed girl, clearly sick of just about everything he did to her friend.

"Who did what?" Kyoko meant for it to sound innocent, but it sounded more like when a person who'd just lost someone they loved claims "I'm okay". Sad and desperate.

"Don't start." Kanae warned with impatience.

Kyoko just sighed heavily, not finding the strength to put up a fight and just told her what she knew was true.

"It's not him. It's me there is something wrong with." She stared at the same paper she had been looking at for over an hour now, though she didn't seem to see the words printed on it. "I don't know what to do or what I want anymore. I don't even know who I am."

Kanae didn't give any kind of response, she was just frozen in her place as she witnessed her greatest fear and worst nightmare come true.

All this time this was _exactly_ what she had been trying to prevent, to stop from happening, and she had been convinced she could do it. She had known that as long as she fed her naïve girly mind it would be fine, but this was just too much. It was actually hurting her, and it hurt Kanae to see her friend suffer this way.

She let out a heavy sigh, very much similar to Kyoko's, and slumped down on a chair beside her with crossed arms and started to mutter.

"You're still not admitting it." The look Kyoko gave her convinced her that she was right. "You're still lying to yourself, even though you're pretty much killing yourself in the process. And him."

Kyoko didn't acknowledge this fact, but she didn't deny it either, she just turned her head to stare down on the same spot as before.

"I don't want to…"

"So you tell yourself that that's not how it is, even though you know the truth."

Kyoko nodded.

The clock on the wall ticked on, marking every second of every hurtful minute that passed.

"What happened?" Kanae finally asked after carefully considering her next words.

More time passed by in silence before the other girl decided to answer.

"He convinced me to trust him." She stated simply, making the other eyebrows go up in surprise.

"Didn't you do that already?"

"Not in this way." She denied and it looked as if she was about break into pieces at any given moment. She pointed at her chest where her heart was beating painfully. "Never… with this."

"I still don't understand what the problem is."

"I don't trust myself."

Realization hit Kanae like slap to the face. It was all too clear to be quite honest; he had defeated the last obstacles, the most difficult she had to offer, which left her exposed and vulnerable.

And so very frightened.

"Has he told you how he feels?" Kanae finally dared to ask.

There was still no major reaction coming from the girl. No sign of doubt or certainty, just emptiness.

"I don't want to know." She finally replied in the same kind of toneless voice, just this time in a whisper.

"Because you're scared." Kanae stated.

Another nod.

Kanae pursed her lips in concentration. This seemed almost impossible to solve. Kyoko was actually aware of her own feelings, possibly his as well, but she was still not willing to let him in. Like mentioned earlier, Kanae wouldn't have minded this if it wouldn't have been for the fact that she didn't want a zombie a friend. She'd much rather stand having him around all day, every day, than having this.

"Then what exactly are you afraid of?"

"Everything. That I'll get hurt again, that I'll feel useless and be thrown away." She said this without any doubt then lowered her voice even more. "That I will hurt him."

Although she wanted to sympathize with the girl, Kanae had a hard time masking the anger she suddenly was feeling. After everything that had been going on these last one and a half years, she was still dancing around the obvious and hating herself for every little thing.

Kanae suddenly hit the table in front of them hard in frustration, making Kyoko jump in shock, and it made her fingers slightly numb.

"Snap out of it! Do you, in all honesty, believe that that man would purposely hurt you?" She glowered at Kyoko who frowned. No she didn't. "And would you for some reason want to hurt him?"

"No!" She exclaimed her denial but quickly quieted down. "Not on purpose, but what if I do it without thinking…"

"Do you really think he would hate you for that? If you accidently say something stupid like a normal human being?"

She wanted to say maybe, but her heart told her no, he wouldn't.

"Don't try to lie to yourself anymore. It won't do either of you any good, and you know it." Kanae growled and shook her head in irritation but then looked up to look at the time. "And if you don't want to meet him anything today you better hurry up. You usually meet him around this time on Wednesdays when you're on set on Tuesdays instead, right?"

Before she even got to finish her sentence Kyoko was already out of the door, the untouched paper moving slightly in the wind that was created as she rushed away.

What Kyoko didn't know was that only a few minutes later, her friend had conveniently enough run into the man she wanted to avoid in question.

"You, sir, better watch your steps very carefully or you might just end up with a knife against your throat." She threatened, gave a short greeting to Yashiro and left without another word, leaving both men in baffled silence.

The rest of the day had passed by about as fast as a snail crawls a mile. Kyoko had barely been able to put a good enough act up as Natsu, though Chiori had seen through her pretty quickly. Or at least she'd noticed something was off.

But unlike Kanae, she hadn't been able to squeeze anything out of the girl, and since they needed to be on set all the time it was hard to find a good time to ask her anything.

But after hours and hours of hard work, and more NG's than she'd like, Kyoko was finally back at home, safely sitting on her bed, alone with her angst.

She hadn't even bothered to be surprised that the eleventh gift hadn't arrived yet. Perhaps the President would come with it personally this time?

Oh, God, she hoped not. What if he stepped into her house and she was looking like this? If there was anyone who could see through people's problems, especially these kinds of problems, it was him.

"I hate this." She suddenly whispered to herself for probably the hundredth time this day. "I hate everything about this. I hate that I can't decide what's right. I hate that I don't know what I want." She grabbed her pillow and hit it against the wall. "I hate how great it feels to hear him say my name and I hate how good it feels to say his."

She took a deep breath, clenched the pillow tightly against her chest, closed her eyes and said the words she'd dreaded to utter for such a long time.

"I hate the fact that I love him."

She'd always known this, or at least for a very long time. Everyone she knew, knew it fairly well, and everyone that has followed this story has known about it. Everyone had even told her at some point in some way how she felt and possibly what he felt.

Everyone except _him_.

She had just refused to admit it to herself or acknowledge it, because if she did, she would admit the harsh truth and break her most valued vow.

But what was the point now anyway? At this point everything would be just hollow hopes and drain her of energy she no longer possessed. One side of her told her that this was not a bad thing, but the other side, her old side, screamed at her that "No! Don't do it! Because if you do you'll get thrown away to the side and be rejected like you've always been."

There was always this constant fight of want, need and truth. What was true anyway? The smiles, the hugs, the care?

Or were they all just a cruel trick of her mind?

She stared up in the ceiling and then to the upper shelves, closest to her door. There in her throne, shaped as a vase, was the dried up, treasured rose. Beside it, to hold her company, was Odette resting peacefully in her beautiful musical castle.

She thought she was about to literally go insane.

She rolled around on her stomach and screamed her lungs out in her pillow just to temporarily numb the painful lump in her stomach, the tears that had been threatening to leak out all day soaked the white fabric.

As soon as the Director had shouted "Cut!" she realized just what had happened and she had never been so eager to leave a set before in her life.

Luckily, she didn't have any more intimate scenes with him that day. Unfortunately, she had to stand the rest of the day together with them, nearly breaking into pieces as she did.

When she got home she had been so exhausted she had hoped she would easily fall asleep. Oh, she fell asleep alright, but it definitely wasn't the kind of sleep you'd wish to have after such a day.

No, it was completely different; it was terrorized by nightmares from hell.

Both Sho and her mother had been main stars in many of her dreams in the past, but those weren't nearly as terrifying as the one that repeated itself in her head over and over again.

It always started with her running in a snowy forest, though not just any random forest. The sky above the tall treetops was completely clear, though it lacked stars, and it was completely made out of solid glass, yet snow fell unstoppably around her.

She was stuck in her snow globe; the so called perfect world.

She didn't even know why she ran, but she didn't want to stop for her life.

As she continued to take new steps in the snow, that for some reason wasn't cold in the black night, she heard the familiar words repeat themselves and echo in the giant sphere.

_On the first day of Christmas, I will give you,_

_Something small and sweet that I hope will do._

She ran past a small piece of chocolate lying on the ground.

_On day number two you'll get something pretty,_

_That you can wear on a party or just in the city._

She was suddenly wearing a grand, though fit, pale blue ball gown in silk. It was the other dress she got on the second day but never dared to touch. Though it didn't make it harder to run.

_Third day's gift won't be as scary,_

_It's something small, so don't feel wary._

Small, silver flowers, identical to those on the hair clips, popped up from under the snow and grew wildly everywhere that she looked.

_Four things that comes in matching pairs,_

_Anyone will be jealous of how you walk the stairs._

She was suddenly higher up on the ground and she realized she was wearing high heels. Out of nowhere the familiar, booming voice rumbled in her giant cage.

"I thought we'd come to the understanding you trusted me." She felt like screaming.

_Time for number five; an apology from me._

_I know I did wrong, but this is all for thee._

Instead of seeing any signs of a small ring she suddenly heard the overwhelming sound of a car crash and terror filled her entire body. How close had that car been to kill her? Now? Or back then…

_Snowflakes, leafs and blossoms, though no bird that can fly,_

_That's because you are the swallow in the bright summer sky._

All the trees around her turned from cherry pink to green to orange and finally into their original form: snowy white. As soon as that happened she heard the sound of someone crying. She ran even faster.

_Seven colors that I know will bring you bliss,_

_Though I think you're most beautiful without any of this._

"You look good in anything…"

_Eight magic beings to protect this place,_

_I'm sure this will put a smile on your face._

Suddenly she reached a stream in the middle of the globe and she stopped, still hearing the crying close by. Had this water always been there? And how come it wasn't frozen although everything else was?

_Nine lives should be enough to protect,_

_All the sacred memories you're about to collect._

Before her lay the album with the cat on it. It opened itself, but instead of being empty it was filled with pictures. Page after page was filled with photographs, or rather, memories.

She was there, bouncing into Ren for the first time she stepped into LME, she was being carried because of a sprained ankle, she was lying on his kitchen floor… being held.

She was caressing his hair while he rested his head on her lap, he hugged her in comfort, he kissed her on the cheek as a thank you, he held her in his arms as he slept after he'd noticed she was missing from her bed, she was bringing him back to his senses, she was holding him in comfort.

He convinced her she could trust him.

"Then why are you not trusting me after all of this?" She heard the same painfully familiar and hurtful voice from before, just this time it was so much closer. It came from the shadows of the trees right in front of her on the other side of the stream.

She couldn't see him properly, but the piercing blue eyes were as visible as torches.

She wanted to scream, to tell him she did, that there was no one she could trust more.

But no sound could escape her lips.

"After everything I've done and given to you, you still stand there on the other side of the stream and refuse to accept me. You can't even see the obvious."

She wanted to move, but she couldn't, she was frozen into place.

When she didn't say or do anything he turned around and disappeared into the forest, leaving her with a scream that could not be heard.

This is where everything started all over again.

This had been going on all night and when she woke up that morning she wasn't sure she was even alive anymore. It was this dream that had caused her to turn into the complete wreckage she was right now.

What hurt her even more was that at the same time it felt like there was something it tried to tell her, something she had refused to understand or see.

What was just a dream, and what was her mind trying to make her understand?

This was also the reason she didn't want to open the big envelope she got yesterday. What if it would add to the horrible nightmares she was sure she would encounter this night?

She lay upon her bed, trying to find a way to make everything go away, though she knew it all would be to no use.

Suddenly she remembered something she hadn't been thinking about earlier.

In her dream she had been running in the snow globe, and in the middle there had been a stream. Would it be there for real as well? Or was it just something her mind added to the dream to be more "creative"?

Only one way to find out.

She got up so quickly her head spun, but ignoring the signals indicating she was about to faint, she grabbed the globe that was resting on the shelf and studied every single corner of the small winter land.

Sure enough, in the middle of the tiny little forest was a thin, blue line that represented water painted on the ground. She must have noticed it without actually thinking about it.

She looked at the engraved fairies that were dancing and flying around on the foot.

"This makes me think of…"

"Kyoko-chan!" The Okami-san called from downstairs. "There's someone here that wants to see you downstairs."

Kyoko thought her heart would stop dead in her chest.

_No please, Takarada-san… not now._

She put the globe back in place and moved slowly towards the door, down the stairs and into the front of the restaurant.

She gasped.

It wasn't the President as she had expected, it wasn't even someone she knew, just a delivery boy. But it wasn't him that made her gasp, it was what he was holding that made her breath catch in her throat.

Those flowers… There was no mistaking it.

All blood drained away from her face and she started to back away from the eleven beautiful, red roses the poor boy was holding, as if they were going to hurt her.

"Kyoko-chan, are you alright?" The Okami-san asked with a very worried voice.

She didn't answer, she just continued to back away until she reached the stairs. The moment she felt her heel touch the first step she spun around and rushed up as fast as she possibly could.

When she finally reached her room she grabbed the envelope and tore it open. She hastily read the rhyme.

_Almost done, it's finally time for a clue,_

_But what do I know, maybe you already knew._

She dropped the small piece of paper and stared at the picture of ten people she knew very well.

At any other day this wouldn't have helped that much, but now it only confirmed what she already knew.

_"There are three things you still have to figure out about me."_

She ran to her closet and searched for her tiny little purse. She flipped it open and snatched the small, blue stone that was lying inside of it. She then ran to the shelf where Odette was standing and reached for her. She looked at the small, blue gems engraved along the silver lines and compared the stones.

"And I already know the answers." She whispered in shock.

She put the photo on a table together with Odette, rushed downstairs, passed the still very confused delivery boy – who really just wanted to be done with his work for the evening and go home – and the worried Okami. She put on her shoes, grabbed her jacket and rushed out in the cold January night.

The cold winter air blew in her hair, and on any other day she would have minded it, perhaps even gone back to get a scarf, but now she had only one thing on her mind.

She grabbed her bike and sped down through the streets like the lightning itself, scaring people half to death as she passed by.

Her lungs burned because of all the effort she put in this, mixed with the cold wind, although she didn't even nearly have the energy she needed for this.

She was so relieved when she finally reached the huge apartment building she had been aiming for. When she was close enough she quickly jumped of the bike and leaned it roughly against a wall, not caring to lock it. She didn't care whether it would be gone when she was done with her mission or not.

She quickly ran through the big doors and up the stairs and instead of stopping the suspicious girl, the security only greeted her, though they got no reply. She'd been there often enough for them to recognize the eccentric actress and not worry about her sudden outbursts.

When she finally reached the floor she was looking for she rushed to the door and was just about to press the doorbell when all the determination she had possessed just now seemed to leak away.

She stared at the small button, her finger just an inch away, but she couldn't make herself press it.

What if something went wrong? What if _she_ was wrong and just made a big mistake? It could have been an accident that she was given exactly those roses or that he was on that picture.

She started to tremble and finally lowered her hand.

She couldn't do it.

She let go of a shaky sigh as she felt all of her previous hope disappear and the hollowness return. No, there was no point in doing this anyway. She turned her back to the door to walk downstairs, now sincerely hoping that the bike was still where she left it.

_"I think it will help you find what you're looking for." _

She heard the sentence in her head as loud as if it would have been shouted right into her ear and she stopped dead in her tracks. But no, she was fooling herself.

_"No, you are ridiculous." _Aiko stated firmly._"You are both stupid and blind at the same time. Have you even seen how he looks at you? How he talks to you?"_

"But that's just…" Kyoko whispered.

_"Don't try to lie to yourself anymore. It won't do either of you any good, and you know it." _

This time it was Kanae's voice that spoke to her mind.

Kyoko clenched her hands angrily and her shoulders started to shake. Everyone knew. She knew. She'd been over this already.

"I _have_ found myself." She whispered the words, though angrily. "I have. Turn around and do what you need to do!"

For the second time in two minutes she turned around, but this time instead of hesitating she pressed her finger on the doorbell. Hard.

She held it there for several seconds before letting it go, adrenaline pumping through every vein in her body. She pressed it again and again until she heard footsteps on the other side of the door.

Ren wouldn't have been so very surprised to see Kyoko standing on his doorstep at any other night, but considering all the occurrences that had been happening lately together with the mix of determination, anger and embarrassment on her face deprived him of every reasonable thought he might have had.

"Kyoko…" Even if he would have been able to think properly he wouldn't have used any prefixes. He thought he'd earned that much. And sort of a statement against how she behaved yesterday.

"I know." She stated in a clear and steady voice as she stared right into his lens covered eyes. Every single trace of self-doubt was thrown out the window.

Suddenly the exchange was interrupted by the sound of a clock on the wall of the hallway and the twelve small dings introduced the beginning of the twelfth day of Christmas.

**A/N: *Locks all the doors and windows, then proceeds to hide under the bed.*Please don't hurt me. :)**

****(Just got to add a quick note about the above statement; people seem to misunderstand me here. I'm talking about the cliffhanger since people often gets frustrated – me included – about them. It's not that I'm scared of anything or similar. It's just a small joke. ;) )** **


	13. Twelfth day of Christmas

**12 Days of Building Trust**

**The disclaimers still remain, though I almost suspected there had been a fangirl conquest regarding the latest real chapter, until I noticed the deeper meanings behind it all.**

_Suddenly the exchange was interrupted by the sound of a clock on the wall of the hallway and the twelve small dings introduced the beginning of the twelfth day of Christmas._

**Twelfth day of Christmas**

oOoOo

"Why don't you come in?" Ren offered after a few seconds, carefully masking the sudden shock with calm and took a step to the side to let her in.

She blinked. Oh, yes, she was standing in the middle of the hallway outside his door. The faintest of red touched her cheeks, but she walked nevertheless with firm steps into his apartment.

She turned to face him and opened her mouth again to speak.

"Maybe you should take off your jacket and shoes?" He chuckled, stopping her words.

"Uh, right." She was slightly caught off guard, but shook them off and hanged the jacket in place and put the shoes where they were supposed to be.

Before she got the chance to start again she was met by the empty space the man had just been standing in. He had walked off to the living room without a word and she had no choice but to follow. It was after all ridiculous to stay in this narrow hallway and talk anyway, if you can call any part of his apartment narrow, that is.

When he finally seemed satisfied with their location he turned around to casually lean against the back of the sofa to face her. Did he do this on purpose?

Though there was something else that seemed off with him.

"Now, what were you going to tell me?"

"Could you please take those contacts out of your eyes? Now that I know how they look for real it's very distracting. I can't see _you_." This time it was Kyoko's turn to suddenly change the subject. She then added hastily. "Not that that was what I was going to tell you."

This time he laughed out loud and told her to wait. He went to the bathroom and was back just about a minute later, the ocean rightfully back in place in his gaze.

That's when he decided to smile one of those crooked smiles he never used outside his home, or at least not with anyone else, and turned to stand on the same place he had before.

"Now, shoot. What is it that you know that's so important you've got to rush here in the middle of the night? Not that I mind, I'm just curious."

Suddenly she felt lost for words. She knew exactly what she had to say, she didn't even doubt the fact that she was right anymore. It was too late for that anyway, she just felt embarrassed talking about it. Plus, those eyes were even more distracting than when they were covered with contacts. Though she couldn't ask him to put them back on now, because then they would be dancing around it all night, and this was just starting to go out of hand.

She took a deep breath; he really had no idea what she was there for, did he? But she could do this. She had walked around like a cat around water, it was enough already.

"Three things." She closed her eyes so she could concentrate better. "Three things I had to figure out about you. I know them."

When he didn't respond she couldn't resist the urge to sneak a peek at him. He didn't smile anymore, it looked more like he was… in a daze. His arms that had been crossed were now hanging limply at his sides.

She had been right. He had had no idea she was going to take his impossible impulse to try to reach her those four days ago seriously, at least not in a long while, no matter how close they'd gotten the last couple of months, weeks and even days.

He had been hoping, trying to tell her almost halfheartedly, but never in a million years guessed she would come rushing here, now, in the middle of the night with answers. He barely resisted the urge to pinch himself just make sure it wasn't a dream.

"You do?" Surprise shone through every syllable.

"Yes." She confirmed with more determination this time, strengthened by the fact that he wasn't as confident anymore. It made her feel stronger as they reached about the same level of insecurity, if that makes any sense.

"Tell me." He said with wary, still not trusting his hopes, wondering if she just tried to trick it out of him, though the fact that she indeed _was_ here in the middle of the night should be enough to convince him otherwise.

As if sensing this, Kyoko pursed her lips in something that resembled anger and was suddenly much more convinced to do this.

"Number one." She held an index finger up in the air to make the statement clearer before pointing it at him. "You are the person who've been sneaking around and giving me all these ridiculous gifts."

Ren's eyes widened just slightly, but it was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"It's true you weren't the one to leave the first gift. I don't believe you did that personally at any time." Kyoko explained, almost sounding like she was accusing him. "You sent Jelly-san on Christmas Eve to do that, didn't you? This is also the reason the President knew about this; you told him, and therefor he's been able to help you. All the other days you've just sent different people."

At first he had been shocked, but as he listened to her, Ren couldn't help the smirk that was slowly spreading on his face. He had expected her to at least realize this sooner or later. She was a smart girl, so sooner shouldn't have been that surprising.

Something that actually _was_ shocking was the fact that she didn't seem terrified about this knowledge. This was the true reason he smiled; he was relieved… and just slightly amused. He had half-expected her to come to his home and throw all the things in his face as soon as she realized.

"Ridiculous you say?" He teased. "Who was the one to use pretty much everything I gave you on New Year's?"

She flushed bright red and pointed at him again with the same accusing finger as before.

"I thought you were going to take me to a grand, fancy (not to mention posh) ball!" She exclaimed. "It's your fault."

He didn't even try to hide his grin anymore as he shook his head. He had expected no less from her, and to be quite honest, it was his plan from the start.

"Nope. I like to see it more as a victory. Now that you've used them you can't return them." He smirked in the way you do when you know you've won an argument; cocking his eyebrow as if to say "I won this battle."

She stared at him for a moment before sighing in annoyance.

"Of course that was why you didn't tell me where we were going." She muttered and angrily put a hand to her forehead. "Why would you even do all this in first place? Being all secret and what not."

"Because you wouldn't accept anything if I would try to do the same in my own name." He simply pointed out in a much more serious tone. "You could only accept it from someone you didn't feel inclined to feel in debt with. Someone that wasn't me."

She couldn't reply to this.

He pushed away from where he was standing and walked a step closer to her place on the other side of the room. It felt like someone had put lead to the light, teasing mood they'd just been sharing.

"What's the next thing you know?" He tried to make the question sound as normal as possible, though he wasn't sure he succeeded. He wasn't even sure what he could hope for.

Taken aback by his sudden action – no matter how small it may have been – and the change of the air surrounding them made her momentarily stunned. But her mind was still set. Again; her fear for how he would react kicked in and instead of closing her eyes like the first time, she decided that the floor had a particularly interesting pattern.

She also spoke in a much lower voice than before.

"This is something I should have realized sooner if I just had decided to pay attention properly. I think you've been hinting at this for a very long time, but I never saw the connection… the link between the two seemed too remote and impossible.

You've always seemed to know more about me than you should considering that I haven't told you that much. Whenever I had or have a problem you always seem to understand what I'm talking about or understand the cause of it, and at first I just thought it was a part of your know-it-all personality. For a while I suspected you could read minds…"

She chuckled lightly. She didn't even mean that as an insult, or as a joke. He just always seemed to know everything… except when it came to some certain areas.

Or at least that's what she had thought.

"You know that time in Karuizawa when you... comforted me… you told me that he was okay, that he could fly and all that. I believed you for some reason, and I really just thought it was because you were a good speaker and comforter.

Then now on New Year's you said you should have told me, eh, _that_ eight years ago. Then the very same day I was given that snow globe just to remind me of those days so long ago. Poor Sebastian, how long had the President made him stand there and wait? On New Year's and everything. You _should _feel bad about doing this.

Then today when I looked at Odette's castle and compared the stones…" She paused and bit her lip, the man in front of her continued to not utter a single word, not even a sound. She decided to reach into her jean pocket and picked up the small, blue stone. "I'm not an expert on gems, but they look so much alike."

"That's because I had them placed there. It's the same type of stone. Iolite."

Kyoko snapped her head up. When on earth had he had time to close so much of the distance between them without her noticing?

He was currently standing just a meter away from her spot against the wall, looking at the stone she was holding. He was like a cat; moved without a sound.

"I-iolite…" She repeated, though more stuttering than she'd liked it to. "I see…"

She flipped the stone this way and that, as if the name of the stone suddenly gave it new character.

"Then… your eyes." She turned her head up to look at them in question. "I knew they reminded me of something… and today it hit me."

She paused. Although she already knew the answer she wanted some kind of absolute confirmation to what she was about to ask.

"You are… Corn, aren't you?"

A huge smile, the one of absolute joy, appeared on his face.

"The very same that gave you that stone you're holding eight years ago." He confirmed with a soft smile. However it faltered as his brow creased in worry. "I'm… sorry to disappoint you."

Kyoko gasped at his assumption.

"No! Not at all, or well… it's a bit sad I haven't met a real fairy," He just looked more and more sad for every word she spoke. "But it's much better this way!"

Ren smiled at her attempt to make him feel better and shook his head.

"This is why I didn't tell you. I didn't want to break the perfect picture you had of me all those years ago, but now that you know what I did and-"

"Kuon." The sound of his real name made him stop in an instant, automatically giving her his entire attention. "I wasn't lying. It _is_ much better this way. I'd much rather have someone I know to be Corn than someone I will never see again. Right now I'm just happy he really is okay and made it through."

This time it was her time to shake her head with a sigh, speaking with annoyance more to herself than anyone else.

"I would have been sad if he really was a fairy and didn't get through the hands of his father. To have the knowledge that he is actually fine is such a relief. I don't understand how I've been able to stand this all these years… I've been so naïve." She hit herself on the head at her own stupidity.

The heavy weight that had been resting on Kuon's shoulders all this time since he realized who she really was turned into a feather and in some impossible way he felt even taller than before.

"Though there is something certainly surprises me." His new, relieved smile turned into one of mock suspicion. "I thought you would react… slightly wilder… when you finally got to know this."

"To be honest, I did too." She nodded thoughtfully in agreement.

"The shock hasn't worn off yet?"

"Probably."

"Should I be worried for my safety?"

"Maybe."

Letting go of a heavy breath that he must have held for years, he took one even closer step to her, gently taking her left hand in his right as another boundary between the two was cut off.

"Thank you…" He whispered, making the atmosphere more serious again. "For accepting who I am."

He loved every bit of the pink that spread to her cheeks. "Maybe… you could tell me the third thing you claim you've figured out."

Trying to keep her voice on a steady level and hide the fact that her knees suddenly felt soft as spaghetti, she joked. "So the first two are correct then?"

He laughed.

"Yes, you've been correct this far."

Kyoko bit her lower lip. This was the hard one.

"The last thing…" She started, feeling nervous and slightly shaky. Not really out of fear, but more because this was something she had suppressed for so long it had become taboo. "Is perhaps the most obvious, yet the one I had the hardest time to realize."

She looked at his large hand holding hers, drawing strength from the soft strokes his thumb made on the back of her hand, making all her doubt seep away. She could, however, feel his hand slightly tremble and as she looked at his face it made her understand he had to be just as nervous about all of this as she was.

He also needed to get all of this confirmed and right now he could barely breathe even though he looked collected enough to withstand a tsunami.

"I've doubted it, refused to acknowledge it and been afraid to see it. I thought that such a thing couldn't happen, not to me at least. I was convinced that everything that happened was out of friendliness. But the infinite trust you've planted inside me, the vulnerability you've portrayed just for me, everything that I didn't want to see because I was afraid to get hurt, has been there for a longer time than I ever thought was possible."

She tried to read his face, to see if she could figure out what he was thinking. He didn't give away that much; the smile had faltered and a worried frown was slightly ghosting his features.

His true thoughts were that he wished that _he_ could read _her_thoughts. He was so afraid to get up his hopes and then end up being disappointed, as history has proven its point. Everything had gone way too well these last minutes, how could he possibly be hoping for something better without getting punished in some way or the other?

To be able to read thoughts would indeed have been a good thing for the moment, for both of them, as they wouldn't have to feel so stressed about perhaps saying the wrong words and end up like all of their worst nightmares.

If they only knew that their minds worked as twins.

She unconsciously held a tighter grip on his hand as she tried to chase the bad thoughts away. She was keeping the whole conversation light for a reason, the angst she had been feeling just a few hours ago hadn't just magically disappeared like that.

No, it was still lurking in the corners of her mind and scaring her, and she was afraid that she would break down if she talked with a tone that matched her true fear.

When she felt him return her squeeze in reassurance she found the courage to continue.

"… This is the reason why you made sure the fourth day's gift ended up on set. Was… was Aiko really right that day? You were in fact…" She didn't want to say that word; it felt so strange to have it connected to his name, or well, Ren's name.

But this wasn't Ren.

"Jealous." Kuon filled in.

"Yes…" She laughed humorlessly. "Jealous of yourself?"

"Because I could give you something and at the same time couldn't. And when it turned out you didn't want to tell me anything I got angry with myself for starting this." He smiled sheepishly while admitting this, though Kyoko felt she was the one to be embarrassed.

"Only because I was unconsciously scared you would be just that." His mouth opened in slight shock, but she continued to talk before he got a chance to cut in. "I think you've been trying to prove this to me for a while now and it didn't matter what people around me said. I refused to listen."

She paused, slightly trembling at what she had to say next. Her mind was filled with horror scenarios of what could happen next if she in fact was proven wrong, or worse, she would wake up and realize it all was just a cruel dream and she was still where she started. She had to look away again.

"Yesterday was the most frightening day of my life. When you whispered _that_ into my ear on set, I broke down. I was so scared, I felt like I was suddenly completely left alone and I felt how everything I had carefully built up just…" An evil sob suddenly escaped her lips, she hadn't meant to start crying, but the treachures tears had other plans.

She felt a hand, his other hand that wasn't holding hers, reach under her chin and tilt her head up to look into his face that now had gotten closer at some point. This resembled the Grateful party painfully much, just that this time they were alone.

"I caused you pain…" He brushed some hair out of her face as the crease was back between his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen."

Kyoko tried to breathe properly, but it was nearly impossible.

"No." She whispered shakily. "I needed that. Because without it I wouldn't have realized what I know. What I feel. Or rather, I still wouldn't know if it wouldn't have been for one fact."

She smiled up at him.

"What's that?"

"The roses. Do you mind telling me what the poem said? I didn't have time to read it before rushing all the way here."

He laughed lightly as he played with her hair.

"_These eleven prestigious roses sent here could only mean  
>that they were made for no one less than a beautiful queen.<em>"

Kyoko couldn't help but to smile broadly. If the flowers didn't manage to scream the truth in her face, then this rhyme alone would have done it.

"You see…" She said, still smiling. "They gave you away. It was those that made everything fall into place."

He touched her cheek with a just a hint of a questioning look.

"The roses told me that you were the one who gave me all of this. That you were willing to spend all of this money just to give me things. This helped me to definitely understand that you in fact could be that boy all those years ago, since all the walls of doubt were pretty much blown away anyway, and they made me understand that…"

She stopped, his hand now curved behind her neck while his thumb caressed her cheek, his other hand still holding hers.

"You understood what?" He whispered softly, his face dangerously close to hers.

She placed her free hand upon his hand near her face and closed her eyes as she drew a deep breath.

"That you love me as much as I love you."

Since she didn't open her eyes she couldn't see his expression, but she felt how he released her hand to lean his forearm on the wall above her so he could get the support he needed for his next action. She felt his sweet breath so very close to her face.

"That a girl."

The softest of lips pressed against hers, though just for a moment, and it happened so quickly it made her open her eyes wide in surprise.

She was met by those beautiful sea-eyes gaze down on her; his entire face practically glowing.

"Sorry, I should have warned you." He didn't sound especially sorry at all.

She just stared at him. Never in her life had she expected that a kiss could feel so _good_. Even the kiss on the cheek all those months ago paled in comparison.

Still stuck in her surprise she touched her lips with her fingers, not exactly aware of what she was doing anymore.

"Is this what I have been missing out all this time?" She suddenly got very angry with herself and she wasn't even talking to Kuon anymore. He couldn't help but to chortle.

Suddenly she remembered something and an idea came to mind. An idea that made her face turn a couple of shades darker.

"Be careful with what you do with your face. It can be dangerous." He joked in a murmur. Or well, almost a joke.

She blushed even more but then shook her head as she set her mind into doing this one thing.

"Close your eyes." She told him. He, on the other hand, blinked. Out of everything she could possibly respond with, that was the last thing he expected.

"What?"

"You heard me." She said, this time more bravely and then demanded. "And don't even try to sneak a peek because this is embarrassing enough."

He laughed but he did as she said.

Nothing happened at first, but then she reached for his left hand and hesitantly brought it to her lips. She placed a slow kiss on the back of his hand, gaining a silent gasp from him, though he didn't open his eyes as he'd promised. She then proceeded to his fingers, close to the knuckles.

She placed a soft kiss on his fingertips before letting go of his hand and reached both of hers to carefully putting them on each side of his face and pulled gently, making him follow obediently.

She pressed her lips on his forehead, the bridge of his nose and the nose tip and instead of proceeding down she tilted his head to the right to kiss his left cheek, and then the other to kiss his right one.

At this point the embarrassment she had felt was gone and she bravely put a small kiss on each side of his lips and then finally two right on top, holding the last one just a little longer before leaning away.

"There." She said softly, smiling up at him, the blush still coloring her cheeks as he opened his eyes and watched her in awe.

"twelve?" He asked almost out of breath.

"Twelve." She confirmed, then looked down on her hands that were fidgeting with his shirt. "I thought that perhaps I should repay you somehow for every gift you've given to me. And everything else of course..."

"Too much." He murmured breathlessly and snatched her away from the wall before she got the chance to respond.

He was still making sure he didn't put too much pressure in his kisses so he wouldn't scare her all that much, but it was hard to control himself. He placed his right hand on her waist while the other was lightly feeling its way through her hair.

Kyoko on the other hand was so baffled by the sensation that she didn't even know how to react. All she knew for sure was that all this time she had been resisting her own feelings had definitely been for far too long.

She shyly imitated his movements at first, but quickly grew bolder as she reached her hands up to his neck and finally around it. He saw this as an indication that he didn't have to be so restrained in his actions.

He then wrapped both arms around her waist and held her closer to him just a few seconds before he suddenly reached one arm under her knees and she suddenly found herself off the ground. She gasped in surprise, momentarily breaking the kiss, making him smile playfully before he attacked her lips again.

She didn't know when it happened but at some point they ended up on the sofa, with her placed on his lap.

She had her right hand against his cheek and the other resting near his neck while he had one hand on the outside of her thigh, gently brushing his fingers against it, and the other around her waist, holding her gently to make the kiss softer.

After a while he broke it to gaze down in her fiery eyes. His face broke into the most glowing and luminous smile she'd ever seen on anyone in her life as he wrapped both arms around her waist to hug her close to him.

"So this is what I have been longing for…" He chuckled. It warmed her from the inside and she couldn't help but to smile back. "Really, I had no idea what was waiting for me."

This time Kyoko had to laugh as she leaned her head against his shoulder. She had never been more comfortable in her life and even though her mind had never been clearer just a few seconds earlier, everything started to instantly blur the more she relaxed.

"Did it help?" He then asked with genuine curiosity.

"What?" She murmured. Her energy bank was suddenly, but officially, bankrupt, and the warmth and safety here made her eyes refuse to comply and stay open. They thought they had had enough of that lately. So she kept them closed.

"Did you find yourself?"

"Mmm… yes." She was almost completely gone in the land of happy dreams, but at least she managed to continue. "When I realized that I loved you I definitely knew what I really wanted and who I was."

"And that is?" He pressed with amusement in his voice. He knew that she must have been exhausted, and now that everything was finally over her mind must have decided to shut off, completely ignoring the fact that he was absolutely filled with energy enough to last a year. He brushed his fingers against her hair, making it even harder for her to stay awake.

"I am someone that is happy… someone that doesn't need old, unkind feelings to drag around as a burden. I only need the people around me now… and I want to be here… with you."

"I love you." He kissed the top of her head at her wondrous words.

"I know you do." She wasn't even awake anymore.

He smiled against her forehead.

"I'll give you your final gift when you wake up in the morning."

OoOoO

Lory sneezed loudly.

"Whoa, dad, are you alright?" His son asked worriedly, startled by the sudden noise. Maria didn't seem to notice though; she slept too tight in his lap.

He blew his nose in a giant handkerchief he pulled out from one of the pockets of his pirate jacket.

"Yes... I'm fine." He smiled happily. "Someone must just have found themselves quite a catch out there somewhere."

**A/N: When Lory sneezes there aren't any girls gossiping about him. Nope, there got to be some deep love attached to it.  
>Happy fluffy fluffiness-day to you! There! The twelve days are complete, but don't worry. There will be one final chapter until I close this story. Thank you all so much for bearing with me. It took me over a YEAR to finish this only because I was lazy (I started writing it in October, but didn't post it until December)… and I didn't feel it was appropriate to end it in the middle of the summer.<strong>

**That part about the stone is by the way actually true for those who don't know. I don't remember in what chapter, but Nakamura did write about Corn at one time and what kind of stone he is. Yes, I'm in desperate need to get one myself.**

**Happy first of Advent, and until next time; have a wonderful beginning of the Holidays while trying to survive until the next real chapter! Cheers!**  
><strong>RDC**


	14. Revelations

**12 Days of Building trust**

**Last chapter and I still don't own Skip Beat! Or any of its characters, except those I made up of course. What a shocker. **

"_Yes... I'm fine." He smiled happily. "Someone must have found themselves quite a catch out there somewhere."_

**Revelations**

**OoOoO**

The heavy daze of the night started to wear off, but she was so comfortable where she was lying that she tried to resist it. That's when she felt what she had believed to be a part of her bed move beside her and she felt the lightest of touches on her forehead; a hand, gently stroking away a few strands of hair.

She felt how her heartbeats suddenly sped up like a frightened rabbit, though it was not caused by fear. The memories rushed through her mind and she didn't even consider trying to pretend she was asleep anymore, even though she had never felt so comfortable in her life, when it was simply pointless as the constant thudding would surely give her away any second now.

She opened her eyes and was greeted by the ocean. It was the most beautiful sight she'd seen in her life.

"Good morning…" His soft smile broadened when he noticed she was awake, and she could do nothing but return it in the same fashion.

"Good morning."

They were lying on his sofa; his right arm under her neck while his left hand stroked her right arm.

"How long have you been awake?" She then asked, suddenly self-conscious about herself. This strongly resembled that time he rested his head on her lap and she fell asleep, and even though she loved him now it didn't make it less embarrassing.

He just tilted his head slightly and gave her that crooked smile and a small squeeze.

"A while."

The blush that had been lurking on her cheeks deepened severely.

"Oh."

"You're truly beautiful."

This time she didn't respond, but he was very pleased with her reaction. Since she was trapped in his arms she couldn't move, and any attempts to look away were futile. It looked like his nearest future was going to be highly amusing. And torturous.

"You're cruel." She finally pointed out after finding no escape.

"I am?" He asked in mock surprise, not being able to hide his grin.

"Yes, you are." Though neither could she. "I don't know how to respond to that kind of thing."

"How about a 'thank you'?" He chuckled.

They had a staring competition that lasted about five seconds before she looked up in the roof rather than on him and mumbled.

"Thank you… You're quite…" She took a small breath, pausing. If her face was red before it was now scarlet as she continued in a much lower voice. "… handsome as well."

He would have laughed at his past self when he then had thought that this woman would be the end of him. The pure joy of hearing her compliment him as the man he was, was more than any human man could possibly handle.

He then released her from his grip which earned him a confused and slightly disappointed look.

"What-?"

"You better move, love, before I do something I shouldn't." He mumbled under his breath, giving her that oh so familiar look.

She didn't even have to hesitate before she was off the couch. Which was a shame considering she had been so comfortable lying where she had.

He laughed as he sat up straight. Keeping things slow was probably going to be his biggest challenge in the near future.

"I'll just, uh, stay over here then." She gulped as she realized how easily she affected him. It was almost scary… and how he affected her. She then felt how the entire situation started to dawn on her; what had happened these last couple of days and… and yesterday.

The day before when the emotions were going wild she would probably not have minded, but now when she had cooled off, she was so much more self-aware.

If he had not winced ever so slightly when he turned his head at that moment she might have gone in full-fledged panic. Instead she frowned and remembered that she actually had someone to care for now. She remembered that she did not need to be so scared. She had no reason to.

He did however cringe at Kyoko's gasp which could only mean one thing; guilt. Sure enough, she instantly came back to his side, even though he had just given her good reasons not to.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you sleep in this weird position all night by falling asleep." She knelt beside him and put a gentle hand on his neck, searching for the sore spot.

He shook his head and smiled, ignoring the tense muscles.

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Besides; it's my own fault for making you so tired."

She smiled back, though not completely convinced as she started to lightly rub his neck. Did his warning not get through to her clear enough?

"Still. You need your neck to function properly." She then laughed. "What would your father do to me if I was the reason his wonderful son wasn't in perfect condition? Kuon-"

He gently grabbed her chin and kissed her softly on her lips.

"I think he would be overjoyed." He breathed.

She gazed at him through her surprised daze. Some part of her old self was going absolutely insane, but she managed to keep herself in check.

"What was that for?" She whispered, though it came out almost more like an embarrassed stutter.

"No. Nothing special. You just happened to be close, that's all." He caressed her chin with his thumb, smiling softly. "Also, you saying my name so casually is absolutely mesmerizing. It was such a long time since that happened."

She laughed mildly, understanding his sudden joy, and it warmed her heart to know she did it.

"Are you going to kiss me every time I say your name? Kuon, th-" Apparently.

"You know…" She said after recovering once again. "This will be very troublesome if we talk on the phone."

"I can keep count." He simply stated with a smirk, earning another giggle from the girl who apparently decided that she could live with some shocks every now and then.

They stayed like that for a while; just taking each other in. Content of how everything was, when suddenly…

"Oh!" Kyoko jerked herself out of her daze. "What's the time?"

Kuon tore his eyes away from his love and looked at the clock on the wall right in front of him.

"It's around eight. But none of us have to be at work until ten. It's Thursday, remember? I usually come to pick you up at around that time."

"Yes… that's true…" She answered thoughtfully. "I always wondered how our schedules always matched so well. Perhaps it's just luck."

He laughed. "No, not luck. Just a very persistent manager."

"That's luck in one way." She pointed out with a smile and he chuckled.

"I guess that's true. I'll have to thank him later." Yes. 'Later' being the keyword.

She nodded and just when they were about to settle down to the former complete moment of shared bliss, she remembered yet another thing.

"The shop owners!" She slapped a hand over her mouth. "I didn't tell them where I went yesterday! They are probably worried sick by now!"

Yikes. He pulled his hand away from her face so she could run to get her phone. It was for both their sakes, his, mostly. He knew at least two people that would have his head on a platter if they got the idea that he had been keeping her in distress the last twenty four hours. It was partly true of course, but anything to dampen the fall was necessary.

Kyoko had similar thoughts and cringed as she checked her voice mail.

The couple had called her five times and Kanae three, and she hadn't answered even one of them. She didn't know who she was most scared of calling back to; the Taicho or her best friend. It was a close call.

She decided to get it over and done with and called home first.

Kuon watched her in great amusement (and slight terror) as she made her calls. In the first one she was mostly apologizing while doing lots of bows even though there was no possible way they could see her doing them. Eventually she had calmed down after explaining that she had something really important to deal with, and no, it did not have anything to do with the delivery boy. ("What? He threatened him with a knife? That poor boy!")

Kuon grimaced and felt bad for the guy. He partly felt it was his fault considering he was the one who sent him there in the first place.

The next call was even more intense. She actually had to hold the phone away from her ear as she got the scolding of the century; the couple of the restaurant had apparently called her, asking if Kyoko had been in contact with her. He could only hear a few things through the raven haired girl's rant. Stuff like; "What if you had been kidnapped by some crazy stalker?" Horrid thought. "… Or what if _he_ had kidnapped you?!" Not a very bad idea, actually.

When she finally calmed down, Kyoko explained as much as she possibly could about the event without giving away too much. Though it didn't seem like she needed to say that much, Kanae seemed to understand what she was trying to say anyway.

"Yes… I'm fine now…" Kyoko answered a question and then laughed. "Don't sound so angry, he's not that bad of a company. I will still have time for you, Moko-san." She laughed some more, and after a while she could finally end the phone call on a happy note. (Though Kanae didn't sound very happy, she was actually very pleased with this result.)

Kyoko closed her phone and was surprised to see a handkerchief turn up in front of her out of nowhere. She hadn't even noticed that she was crying, but she gratefully accepted it and dried her tears. He gently stroked her back.

"Is it that hard?" He asked, slightly worried they were already taking things too fast, but she blew his worries away quickly by saying;

"No. Not at all. It's rather the opposite… I'm so happy my floodgates have decided to burst for some reason."

He beamed at her and kissed her forehead since words were useless anyway.

After that they finally managed to pull themselves together. She shooed him to sit in the sofa while she made some breakfast. He still had plenty of groceries since her last visit, though she had to throw some of if away while mumbling about waste of food and starving children.

"You could always come here more often and make sure nothing goes to a waste." She heard that wonderful voice chuckle behind her.

"Didn't I tell you to watch the TV?"

"Why? This is more interesting."

"You are hopeless." She sighed, laughed and turned around to get everything she needed for a light breakfast suitable for his appetite.

"That's exactly why I need you." She jumped in shock. For the second time in twenty-four hours had he sneaked up on her without noticing.

"Don't scare me like that!" She put a hand over her heart and he laughed out loud.

"Sorry, but there's just something I can't forget to do before we leave."

"What do you mean?"

He put a black, square box in front of her on the counter and she just stared at it.

"Is this…?" She carefully picked it up and looked at it in awe.

"_You've always been royalty without a crown,_" He put his arms around her as she opened the box, causing her eyes to become big as plates. "_But with this no one will doubt you in your princess gown._"

**OoOoO**

At nine forty-five they left the apartment, and just when they were about to go down to the garage she suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Kuon asked, slightly worried at her sudden halt.

"I… I got to check something. I'll be right back." Even though she told him to wait he still decided to follow. He was still not quite sure he was awake or if she was just going to disappear into nothing at any given second. In other words; he refused to leave her out of his sight.

She walked through the corridor and opened the door to the apartment building. Her suspicions had come true.

"What's the matter?" He asked when he noticed her slightly hunched shoulders.

"My bike… it's been stolen. I didn't lock it yesterday since I was in such a hurry, and I guess someone just took their chance and took it."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Yes. Me too." She sighed and then laughed. "This is probably going to sound strange, but that bike was sort of a very good friend of mine."

Yes. That did indeed sound strange. Was he dreaming after all? The thought pained him deeply, but she continued to speak.

"You see… I've been through everything on that bike since I moved here, and it did never fail me even once… so maybe, just maybe, the fact that it's gone isn't a coincidence. Maybe it's a sign for me that it's time to move on? That the hard fighting I've been going through together with it has finally come to an end? Perhaps… it can help whoever who apparently needed it more than me more now."

He had had no idea she felt that way, but now that she said it he understood what she was talking about. He did need a new watch after all.

She turned to look at him with a refreshed smile and reached for his hand.

"Let's go to work." He smiled, took her hand and together they walked towards a new start.

**OoOoO**

Kuu was sitting at home, contently reading a book while his wife leaned against his good side when suddenly;

"Huh."

"What is it, honey?" Julie asked in her sleepy haze.

"I just suddenly got the feeling I owe someone a great deal of money."

"Why? You're in deep with some sharks or something?" She yawned.

"No… I don't know why, but the feeling just came over me like that."

"Huh, strange." She closed her eyes again.

"Indeed." He turned his attention back to the book again, but was interrupted once again as his phone started to ring.

**OoOoO**

This day had been a horror to endure for several reasons. First they both had to act normally when they picked up Yashiro in the morning, though it was hard since the second he saw them both sit beside each other he had narrowed eyes at both of them.

"Is there… is there something I'm missing out on here?" Was his morning greeting when he got into the car.

"Good morning to you as well, Yashiro-san. I don't know, why do you ask?" Kuon had reverted back to being some sort of version of Ren again, though it seemed impossible to completely keep up the act. It was probably that that the manager picked up on.

The pair had agreed it would be for the best that as few as possible knew right away. It would be better if they could just collect everyone in a big room and simply get it over and done with.

"No… I don't know. I just get the feeling that something is out of the ordinary."

"Maybe you're just tired, Yashiro-san?" The natural flow in her voice surprised even Ren. He turned to look in a direction where none of them could see his face and he laughed softly, covering it up with a cough. Out of the two, you would think she was the one with most acting experience.

When they got to LME they had to part ways, which also was a very hard thing to do. Neither wanted to say goodbye, at the same time as it would be dangerous to do something big in public. Yashiro picked up on their strange behavior, but dismissed the depressing good bye as another indication of them not accepting their own feelings.

If he only knew.

Kyoko drowned herself in work, doing an extraordinary job at the Box R set and spent the rest of the day looking through job offers, and to her delight the mean roles seemed to lessen for each month that passed.

She even got to spend some time with Kanae, but to her surprise she didn't want to know much. Or rather, she didn't want to know _anything_ at all. She knew she would have it hit her in the face in the near future and she wanted nothing of it as long as she possibly could.

"Don't mention a _word_ about him." Was all she said when she met her friend and they continued to spend their time together like they would any normal day.

But then the time finally came that the pair had been dreading all day.

"How's your day been?" Kyoko asked after a quick, comforting hug when she met him outside the president's office.

"Long. How about you?"

"Dreadful. But there's no way to avoid this, is there?" She sighed. "He'll find out sooner or later anyway."

"If I know him correctly, and I dare say I do, it would be sooner." They both laughed to mentally prepare themselves for the incoming insult.

"Shall we?" He asked and rubbed her arm in comfort.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Go for it."

He knocked on the door and Sebastian was fast to open it up for them. Since they went inside the huge room at the same time they could both observe the colorful changes of expression that the Native American chief made as soon as he saw them.

At first he opened up his arms to welcome them in his "usual" eccentric way with his mouth wide open as if to utter a greeting. The problem was; he didn't do anything more than that. He was completely frozen in that pose as he stared at the two.

"M- Mr. President? Are you-" Kyoko didn't even get to finish her question before he snapped out of it and picked up his cellphone from one of his front pockets of his leather vest.

"Hello? Yeah, hi, it's me. No, I don't care that you are trying to relax with your wife, I'm just calling to tell you that you owe me a lot of money. Send me a check or something. Okay, bye." They heard some inaudible screaming on the other line, but Lory was quick to end the call and completely ignored the vibrations that meant that whoever that was, was now trying to call back.

Kuon groaned.

"Don't tell me that was-"

"Oh, it was him alright." Kyoko understood nothing, but for some reason Kuon didn't seem very happy about the president's call. "Now to more important matters. When did this," he pointed at them back and forth. "happen? And why am I only informed now?"

The couple looked at each other; Kyoko with a slightly creased brow and Kuon took a deep breath. They had already decided that morning how they were going to deal with this, but that didn't make it much easier for any of them. Especially not Kuon.

She gently took his hand, which he gladly accepted, and drew strength from her warmth.

Lory's eyebrows rose in astonishment by the tender exchange.

"It's… kind of a long story." Kuon finally said as he looked on their entwined hands, the warmth keeping him calm. "But what's most important right now is that she needs to know. And that I'm ready."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't… I can't be someone I'm not anymore. I can't be Tsuruga Ren. Not now when I have her." The room turned completely silent. Kyoko saw how much this decision was tearing on him, so she took one step closer to stroke him on his back, comforting him. It worked.

He smiled down at her, gave her a small squeeze and then turned to look at Lory.

"She already knows a lot. But I want her to know everything, and I thought that it would be for the best if you could help fill in the details if…" He took another deep breath and closed his eyes. "If it gets too hard for me to continue."

The president continued to stare at them in awe, at the same time as there seemed to be a lot of thinking going on behind those big eyes of his. He then quickly picked up another phone, one that wasn't desperately trying to get him to answer, and started to search through his contacts.

"What are you doing?" Kuon asked with mild suspicion.

"I'm cancelling all my appointments for today. I think the two of you should take a seat."

**OoOoO**

"Kyoko-chan! You look absolutely wonderful! Like a true princess…" Aiko hugged the shorter girl as soon as she got inside after walking on the red carpet. "Really, I have no _idea_ how you even do this!"

"Thank you, Aiko-chan." Kyoko blushed happily and started to fidget ever so slightly. "Though I couldn't have done it without certain help."

"I don't believe it. And what are you grinning about, Mr. Short-pants?" The brunette asked it so bluntly Yashiro had to pretend he sneezed to cover up his sudden fits of laughter.

Ren just chuckled, smiling even broader.

"Good evening to you as well. I just have to agree with you; she can actually do wonders with herself. Not that she needs to."

Kyoko's face grew several shades darker and Aiko started to laugh out loud, taking the smaller girl's hand and hid her behind her back.

"You know, I think I shall keep her with me all night just in case you decide to throw her over your shoulder and run away."

Instead of trying to direct the conversation in another direction like he usually does in this kind of situation he just smiled in a very… odd way, according to Aiko. It was as if his eyes alone agreed that the idea wasn't all that bad.

She suddenly narrowed her eyes and turned to look at the girl behind her, who was blushing deeply as she also studied the tall man's expression.

"Wait a minute… don't tell me-"

"If everyone could turn their attention to the stage, please." Some woman from the stage crew said in a microphone, interrupting Aiko in the middle of her sentence. "It's soon time for the live broadcast to start, so if everyone could head to their assigned table so we can get started it would be awesome! Thank you."

Even though she didn't have any time to say anything, Aiko pointed at her own eyes with her index- and middle finger and then to the two suspects in question, silently stating "I have my eyes on you", as they proceeded to find their places. She was almost more shocked about Yashiro's lack of reaction.

If she only knew. It had been impossible to hide it from the manager as he one day caught them sharing a quick kiss in a hallway at one of their planned, short personal meetings. His face: Priceless. His reaction? The couple had at first thought that some random girl had accidently caught them in the act judging from the scream.

Several months had passed since the end of the filming and release of _Wake me up_ and they were now sitting in the audience for the Japanese Academy Awards as their movie had been nominated for several prizes, to their great delight. Though this wasn't even close to being the reason why both Kyoko and Ren, or rather Kuon, was so nervous to be there.

"How are you feeling?" He whispered into Kyoko's ear as they sat down in their respective chairs next to each other.

"Like I'll explode at any given moment. How about you?"

"About the same. But it's just one night, and then it'll be over."

"Over? Wouldn't think so, do you have any idea how crazy every-"

He took her hand under the table to calm her down.

"Breathe." He ordered calmly. "We have each other and we're strong. Even if the world would turn on us, and they won't," He quickly added at her panicked expression. "we can do this together, okay?"

She took a shaky breath, but nodded.

"Alright."

"You… are totally plotting something over there." Aiko pointed at them with her table knife.

Thankfully, they were interrupted once again, though this time it was because the show started.

They continued to hold each other's hands throughout the evening at the same time as they drowned themselves into the entertainment that the show had to offer. Famous actors and comedians performed and made funny sketches and as the show went on awards were handed out to different people from different movies.

Kyoko was absolutely beyond herself with glee when her best friend got up on stage to get the prize as best supporting actress, which Aiko only found mildly insulting as she was also nominated, but she also knew that the two were the best of friends, so she didn't mind it terribly. Also; a nomination was never a bad title.

Though their table was soon to cheer as they got the prize for best music, film editing and popularity. They got the last one undoubtedly because of the lead actor, or that's at least what Kyoko thought. If she only understood her own popularity in this country. The fact that she was sitting right there and then should have been enough.

Half way in it was time for some musical entertainment, and even though Kyoko had known what was coming she didn't feel prepared. When Sho stepped onto the stage, people roared all over the place, and she… felt nothing.

He was just a person performing among the others, no other feelings attached. Kuon studied her expression carefully, as if she would have a hidden bomb somewhere under all that calm. In reality, he was probably more emotional about this than she was. While she felt absolutely nothing, he was still mad at the boy, though he knew he had already won.

None of them listened to a word he sang, but the crowd seemed to love it.

"He truly has quite some talent! And handsome too…" Aiko sighed when he started to move off the stage. "Maybe I should try to talk to him after the show…"

"No." The pair and Yashiro stated in the same stiff voice.

"Why?" She asked, baffled.

"I like you too much to risk you get involved into something like that. Just don't." Kyoko replied with a neutral voice. Even though she didn't care for him anymore in that way, she still knew what he was capable of doing. She truly didn't wish any of that upon anyone she cared for.

"Alright…?" Aiko looked at her with a slight furrowed brow. "Oh, now the most exciting part of the show begins!"

Just as she said it, Takarada Lory stepped onto the stage.

"Good evening, everyone!" He was dressed strangely normal, being him that is, in an old fashioned English suit with a top hat to – no pun intended – top it off with. "I have to thank the Academy for inviting me to come and present one of the most exciting awards this evening. Only because all the nominees come from my agency. Not that I want to brag, or maybe I do." He started to laugh and almost everyone, the people from LME, let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Anyway, the nominees for best lead actress are…"

He counted them all, and Kyoko blushed when she heard her name but had to keep her act up when the cameras focused on her face. When they no longer had their full attention on her she relaxed and shut everything out. It's not like she would-

"You got to get up, Kyoko." Someone, Kuon, whispered in her ear.

She looked up in shock and to her great surprise she was yet again the focus of the cameras. Aiko practically jumped in her chair as she clapped her hands in glee.

"I didn't…?" She looked at him.

"Indeed you did, but you better go up before they think you don't want it."

He shooed her off while clapping his hands and she prayed that she wouldn't trip over her gown as she walked towards the stage.

Lory took her hand as she walked up the stairs and gave her the prize, congratulating her at the same time. He wore the smile of a proud father.

She was handed the microphone, but her words seemed to have disappeared from her head.

"I… I literally don't know what to say. I would never have guessed in a million years that I would get this prize. I'm so new and… I don't know… To my great shame I have to say I don't have a speech prepared." She paused (while some people chuckled in the audience) and gazed in awe at the prize in question for just a moment. "Really, thank you everyone with all my heart. I don't know how to thank you. Especially everyone in the crew of our movie and… and my friends, without you this would never have happened. And thank you for believing in me."

She looked around the room with her mouth open as if to say something more.

"I… I'm really not good at this, am I?" She smiled sheepishly and now the entire room seemed to laugh loudly. With her, not _at_ her, to her great relief. "So just… thank you. That's really all I can say, thank you for everything."

She got a very big round of applause and just when she was about to move away from the spotlight, Lory subtly grabbed her arm.

"There's been a slight change in the program. Please stay on the stage." He whispered in her ear, and even though this confused her, she remained where she stood. Though it became quite clear what was going on just a few moments later.

Lory was about to present the nominees for best lead actor, but when he reached into his jacket he didn't seem to find what he needed.

"But… what is this? I can't seem to find the envelope with the winner's name in it. Huh, oh well, looks like we'll be without a male winner this year."

"You're looking for this?" The envelope he had been looking for suddenly turned up in front of his face, and the audience started to scream like never before.

The hand that held the envelope belonged to none other than Japan's huge movie hero and star Hizuri Kuu, with his lovely wife on his arm. Kyoko thought she was going to faint right there and then; this was certainly not something any of them had planned on.

"Really, you should keep better track on your stuff." Julie huffed and shook her head and everyone laughed as Lory pretended to get mad.

"That's really funny, now, give me that thing."

"Nope," Kuu pulled it away and out of the president's reach. "Finders, keepers."

"Fine. Just read the damn thing." Lory sighed dramatically, crossed his arms and turned around with a disappointed pout. Kuu actually had to wait to open it because of the excitement within the crowd.

And when he did, Kyoko could only focus on one person, and that person was at this moment heading to the stage, masterfully covering his undoubted shock.

He stopped a second by her, officially congratulating her in front of the camera, but in reality he just stopped to gain some strength. She gently squeezed his hand as he walked up to his parents to receive the prize.

Though it was filmed by dozens of cameras and thousands of people were watching, only the five people on stage understood the connection the three shared on that stage at that very moment. As Kuon, masked as Ren, received the prize and shook hands with the international super star they both agreed that he had done it.

Only three months ago had he received a big offer as a lead role in a major picture in the States that would most definitely change his life more rapidly than any of them could have imagined, and this was now a way for the father and son to agree that they both had done well, and that they both was very independent away from each other. Kuon especially.

Though they still had decided to wait with revealing who he actually was to the world until he had actually finished the foreign movie, in private he had already reached the goal he'd come to Japan to gain. He'd proved to himself that he indeed was good enough.

He did his thank you-speech, definitely much better prepared than Kyoko's, and while he did, the famous pair walked over to Kyoko to congratulate her. At the same time as they did, out of reach for the microphones, they thanked her for everything she'd done for their family. Kyoko had to do everything that was within her power to not start crying in the spotlight.

Kuon stepped back and Lory took over the microphone once again.

"Now there's only one last thing we would like to share with you before we send this wonderful actors off the stage. Something that is going to affect MILLIONS of men and women all over the country, possibly the world." He motioned for the two to step forward on each side of him and looked from one person to the other. If the room had been louder than ever just a moment ago, now they could have dropped a needle and the sound would echo throughout the room. "So if everyone is prepared, why don't we just simply drop the bomb?"

Lory stepped back and with a smirk he watched how Kuon, or Ren in the rest of the world's eyes, grabbed the smaller girl by her waist and kissed her full on the mouth. Even though Kyoko knew that something like this was coming, it didn't make her less embarrassed or surprised.

They had been together, though secretly, for months and she was still not used to his kisses. And to do this in public no less! I can't, however, say that she was slow to respond to his affection. The room remained completely silent for less than a second, and within that second she could swear she heard Aiko shout "I knew it!" before a deafening roar occurred in the building.

When they broke away from the short kiss, that seemed to drag on forever, they saw how Kuu and Julie clapped their hands, while both, mostly the man, cried.

They headed down the stairs, laughing, while holding each other's hand and the prize in the other as they walked to their seats. The assault they got from the people around their table was ridiculous.

As they laughed and was bombed with questions, Kyoko suddenly noticed something in the corner of her eye.

There, only a few meters away, stood the singer she had shared her childhood with. He was staring at the couple. Not glaring with fury as you might have expected, but rather… just stared with some unexplainable emotion.

They looked at each other like that, though it only lasted a few short moments, with no one noticing the exchange since they were all suddenly focused on the stage again. They had to continue their show after all.

After a while Sho unclenched his jaw, and without a word he nodded. She did the same, and just like that, the bond was broken.

She watched as the boy walked away to his table again, and Kuon gently squeezed her hand. She looked up to him as he worriedly looked down in her eyes; looking for something he was happy to not find. He gently brushed away a tear she didn't notice falling, but she smiled.

She was alright. They would be alright. She didn't need that boy anymore, not when she had this man. She gently placed a kiss on his lips and wiped all of his worries away.

"Oh." She suddenly said after clapping her hands as they watched Ogata walk up to receive the prize as best director, since he reminded her of a very specific time of their life. "I've completely forgot to tell you something."

"What is it?" He asked right before taking a zip out of his drink.

"You know how you puzzled everyone by saying that even chickens can be helpful in becoming successful in your thank you speech?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I can tell you about that later."

"No, you don't understand." Now it was her turn to laugh. "Did you learn that dance after all the trouble you went through?"

He looked down at her with a puzzled expression, but it quickly disappeared as it suddenly started to dawn on him.

"Or…" She could barely contain her laughter as she watched his expression change. "Or do you need someone, perhaps a bird with messed up hair, to help you out?"

At first he couldn't even comprehend what all of this meant, but when he did he found the hilarity in the situation, but he still couldn't resist doing what he did.

He leant down and whispered darkly in her ear.

"When we get home, little princess, I'm going to take an advice I got from a certain someone _very_ seriously." His hand went slightly lower down on her waist than would be considered decent in public. "And there is no way I'm going to let you _chicken_ out."

Kyoko gulped as she realized what she had done for herself.

"Really." Aiko interrupted all of a sudden. "Sure, you're a couple, we get it, but who told you it's okay to seduce her like that in public? There are _cameras_ around here."

Kuon just laughed, and to his delight, so did Kyoko.

They all enjoyed the rest of the evening and then calmly went home, not thinking about the tomorrow. Because little did they know that that kiss they had shared on stage would be the cover of tomorrow's paper, or rather, the magazines all over Japan. People had really gone insane over this fact, but mostly positive to the couple's great relief.

Many journalists referred to them as the new king and queen of the Japanese showbiz industry. The picture surely fitted that image; Ren (or Kuon) looking regal as always in his black designer tuxedo and Kyoko in her beautiful pale blue ball gown she'd got as present number two over a year ago. But the thing that extinguished her the most was what rested on top of her head;

A silver tiara with twelve beautiful, small blue stones decorating the wonderful, twirling pattern of the metal. Combined with her natural beauty, posture and personality it certainly made her look like the royalty she had become in the hearts of so many.

But most of all she was the undying leader, owner and queen of one single man's heart, and it was going to stay that way until the end of time. Christmas gave them everything they ever wanted and needed during those twelve, short days, and it would never once break. For their bond was forever built on the unbreakable trust only true love could bring.

**A/N: And cut! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! For staying with me through this year. I only hope the length of this last chapter didn't scare you away. ^^" **

**I still can't believe I've got so much great response from all of you. It's meant more than you could possibly imagine! Since English isn't my native language it's been incredibly scary to upload every chapter, but I relaxed more and more as time went by. Now it's just exciting to see how you respond to my story and I look forward to the next time I decide to write something.**

**Thanks again for sticking with me, and until next time, enjoy the Holidays to the fullest and I hope you'll have a wonderful new year!  
>Love RDC**


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